From Friendship to Love
by Puppylove7
Summary: Fuji and Ayame are now reunited with each other after five years and everything is like it used to be, or so they thought. What happens when they find out that there are feeling more than frienship between them? Sequel to The Reunited Souls.
1. Getting Reacquainted

**Author's Notes: **Well, since I have had some requests for a sequel for The Reunited Souls, so here is chapter one of From Friendship to Love. Again this is the sequel for The Reunited Souls, so if you have not read that, then you should not read this story until you have.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Prince of Tennis anime or manga. I do own my OCs.

Chapter 1:

Getting Reacquainted

It had been a month since Ayame realized exactly who Fuji was and things were already as they were when they were younger. They were always together with the exception of tennis practice and tournaments. Although they were not together at tournaments, but they did watch each other when they were able to. Since there was neither practice nor a tournament going on the two were enjoying some time in a café having a nice conversation.

"Hey, Fuji, aren't you happy that things are back to the way they used to be from when we were younger?"

"Sa, yes, it is nice to have things back to the way they were." Fuji said as he stared at Ayame as if there were something on her face.

After noticing that Ayame asked "Hey, you are staring at me is there something on my face?"

"Well, no, not on your face, but I thought I saw something move on your shoulder…" After he said that Ayame began to freak out, thus causing a lot of people to look over in her direction. While she was freaking out, Fuji was enjoying every moment of it. When he had finally had enough of torturing his friend, he decided it was time to tell her the truth.

"Ayame, calm down. I was kidding, there is nothing on your shoulder and there never was. But I have to say, it was really funny how you acted just now." After he said that, he got a very cold stare from Ayame, who was not red in the face from both embarrassment and anger.

"Fuji, you are such a jerk. Why would you do that?"

"Because it is fun to mess with others."

"Well, I don't think that was very funny, in fact, I think it was kind of rude." Ayame said in a furious tone as she got up from her seat and was going for the door when something stopped her. When she turned around to see what it was that stopped her and saw that it was Fuji that stopped her. He had grabbed onto her arm in an attempt to stop her from leaving.

"Ayame, I was just trying to have fun, I didn't expect you to take it so seriously. So can you please come sit back down?" Fuji said trying to get her to go back to her seat. But his efforts were futile because Ayame just pulled her arm away from him and left the café in a huff. But it was not known to them that they were being watched, well at least they made it seem like they didn't know, but in truth, Fuji knew that at least one of his teammates were follow them and spying on them, but he was sure that Ayame didn't notice. So after Ayame left the café and went in the direction of her house, Fuji decided to make it obvious that he knew they were there.

"Alright guys, you can come out now, I know you are there."

"Nya, how did you know we were there?"

"Sa, I just knew."

"Oh well." Kikumaru said as he, Momoshiro, and Echizen all took a seat at the table that Fuji had occupied.

"Fuji sempai, you really shouldn't have treated her like that. She really looked upset when she left." Momoshiro stated

"Oh, she will get over it. Although, she was never like that in the past."

"Wait, you two knew each other before? I thought she just moved here last month."

"Yes, we were childhood friends, but her family moved to America five years ago and moved back last month."

"Nya, I thought something was up with how you two responded to each other. You two are way too close to have only know each other a month. Isn't that right Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked the youngest member in their group, but got no response out of the freshman who sat at the table looking bored.

"Now that you mention it, you two are really close, are you two dating?" Momoshiro asked.

"No, we are just friends. Now if you excuse me, I've got to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Fuji said as he got up and left the café and went in the direction of his house.

XXXXX

Ayame was now most of the way home and she was still very infuriated with how Fuji had treated her that she didn't even notice that there was somebody following her. So she kept on walking in the direction that she lived it. She didn't notice that the person was following her until it was too late because the next thing she knew it she had been grabbed by the person who was following her.

**Author's Notes:** Well, here is chapter one of From Friendship to Love. How did you like it? Well, I'm sorry I left it in a cliffhanger and that it is a little on the short side, but please enjoy it anyway. Well leave a review if you would like to, and if not please return for the next chapter.


	2. A Night of Desperate Searching

**Author's Notes: **As promised, here is chapter two of From Friendship to Love. Please enjoy.

Chapter 2:

A Night of Desperate Searching

_Recap of last time:_

_Ayame was now most of the way home and she was still very infuriated with how Fuji had treated her that she didn't even notice that there was somebody following her. So she kept on walking in the direction that she lived it. She didn't notice that the person was following her until it was too late because the next thing she knew it she had been grabbed by the person who was following her._

Ayame was just about to get onto her street when all of a sudden somebody grabbed her from behind. Without thinking, Ayame automatically struggled to get into a better position to see who the person was. When she saw that it was nobody she knew, but rather a big, burly guy. She fought as hard as she could to get out of his grasp, but her struggles were in vain. So she did the only think she could think of to do and that was to scream as loud as she could to try to get somebody's attention. But that too failed because as soon as she took a breath to scream, the guy automatically shut her up by covering her mouth so that she could not scream. When he placed his hand on her mouth she automatically bit him in hopes of getting him to let go of her so she could make a run for it, but the only thing that did was make him even angrier and the next thing Ayame saw was darkness.

XXXXX

It had been several hours since Fuji had left the café and he was currently in his room admiring his cacti collection when his cell phone started to ring, so he looked at the caller ID to see who was calling him. When he saw that it was Ayame's house he answered it in hopes of it being Ayame wanting to talk to him, but that was not the case. When he answered the phone it was not Ayame on the other end, but rather her mother who spoke to him in a frantic voice.

"Hello Hamasaki san, what are you calling me for?"

"Have you seen Ayame at all today?"

"Yeah, she was in class today then we went to a café after class, but she left to go home before I did. Why do you ask?"

"Well, she has not come home since she left for school this morning and I know that you two are together most of the time, so I thought she might be with you."

"She was, but not anymore. I've been home for at least three hours now. Have you called her cell phone?"

"Yes, but she won't answer…" Ayame's' mother said while on the verge of crying.

"Don't cry, we will find her. Let me call her cell phone and see if she answers me. If not we will have no choice but to go out and search for her." Fuji said calm tone.

"Ok, Fuji kun. I'll let you go so you can do that. Please call me back and tell me if you get a hold of her or not."

"Ok, I will." Fuji said as he hung up his cell phone and started dialing Ayame's number in hopes of her answering her phone, but she did not answer his call which caused him to start to worry about her. So he did what he said he would do and called Ayame's mother to give her the news. Right after he dialed the number she answered.

"Fuji kun, please tell me that she answered you."

"I'm sorry, but she didn't answer me either." Fuji said in a worried tone that he tried to hide it from her, but he was unsuccessful.

Being able to hear the worry in his voice, Ayame's mother reassured him by saying "Don't worry I'm sure that we will find her." Ayame's mother said trying to be as reassuring as possible, but just like her, Fuji could hear the worry in her voice too.

"Well, I can hear it in your voice that you are just as worried as me, so how about we go out look for her. I'll even call my friends and see if they have seen her and see if they can help look."

"Ok, you do that. I'll be over to pick you up in a few minutes, so we can start the search."

"Ok. While I wait for you, I'll call up my friends and tell them the news."

"Ok, see you in a few minutes, oh and make sure to tell your family where you are going. Maybe they can help out."

"They can't because I'm the only one home at the moment, but I will call and tell them."

"Ok, I'll let you go now." Ayame's mother said and then hung up the phone. After she hung up Fuji automatically began calling his friends and family to give them the news. After he was done calling everybody he was told that none of them had seen her, but they would help look for her. So when Ayame's mother got to his house and he told her that his friend would help them out and that it was decided that they were going to meet at their school because it was the closest thing to everybody. After he told her that they made their way to the school to meet up with the others. When everybody that was able to or willing to come were there they split up into three search groups to look for her. The groups were as follows: Group 1: Ayame' mother, Kaidoh, Kawamura Group 2: Fuji, Inui, Momoshiro, and Echizen Group 3: Tezuka, Oishi, and Kikumaru. After everybody was split into groups everybody set off into separate directions to look for her.

XXXXX

As Ayame's mother's group looked around the library they were looking for anything that could indicate that she had been there, but they found nothing, so they thought of other areas she could have gone to and the first thing that came to mind was the Botanical Gardens not too far from the park. So with that in mind, they left for there immediately. When they got there, the place was desolate with nobody there, so they were at a loss on where to go other than the park which Fuji's group went to and the arcade which is where Kikumaru and the others went. So they decided to look around the streets to see if they could find her there.

XXXXX

Kikumaru, Tezuka, and Oishi were currently checking out the area around the burger place, sports store, and the café where she likes to go, but did not find anything there. Being at a loss of where to look next considering the only ones who really know her are Fuji and her mother they resorted to looking in the streets and stores for her, but they had no luck finding her. As they were searching the streets they ran into Ayame's mother's group and saw that they had had no luck either.

"I see that you three had no luck either. I really wish I could find my little girl."

"We will find her. She has to be somewhere around here. The only place we have not checked yet is the park and that is being checked by Fuji and the others. I'm sure they will find her, so don't worry." Kikumaru said trying to reassure the women.

"I know, I just wish we could hurry up and find her."

'We know, but for now all we can do is continue looking."

"You're right." After that was said they continued to look in the streets For Ayame.

XXXXX

Fuji and the rest of the guys with him were currently searching the park for Ayame considering she is always in the park. But so far they were having no luck with finding her. But they still had plenty of land to look through. They had just finished looking through the play area, but she was not there, so they decided to look in the tennis courts to see if she was there, but she was not there either. Much like Ayame's mother, Fuji was beginning to get really worried about Ayame and began to think to himself. /Ayame where are you? Where ever you are please be ok./ While thinking that he continued to look for her. But he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard one of his group members calling his name.

"Fuji sempai, I think I see somebody over there and it looks like it might be her."

"Ok, let's go look then." They then went the way where Momo was pointing. When they made it over to the place they were trying to get to what they found there was something that was very devastating to Fuji.

**Author's Notes:** Well, that is the end of chapter two of From Friendship to Love. I'm not exactly sure where this chapter's idea came from, but I like it none the less. Please tell me what you think. I will try to update again soon. Oh and another thing, I don't plan on making this as long as The Reunited Souls was. Anyways, bye for now.


	3. A Night of Devastation and Sorrow

**Author's Notes: **Sorry for the delay in getting this out, but here is chapter three of From Friendship to Love.

Chapter 3:

A Night of Devastation and Sorrow

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Ok, let's go look then." They then went the way where Momo was pointing. When they made it over to the place they were trying to get to what they found there was something that was very devastating to Fuji._

There sitting under a tree was a sight that nobody wanted to see. They had found Ayame, but she was in horrible condition. She was left under the tress unconscious and she was badly beaten up. The first thing that was noticed was a large blood spot on her shirt. At first everybody was stunned, but then Fuji regained himself and automatically went straight to Ayame to see if she was still conscious, thus leaving the others standing there. The first thing he did was crouch down beside her and called out her name and got no response, but that was no surprise to him. He was not expecting her to still be conscious with how bad her wounds were. But after a few seconds of being with her he remembered that her mother was still out looking for her. So he took out his phone and dialed the number. After a second, she answered.

"Fuji kun. Did you find her?"

"Yes, we are in the park. I will send somebody to lead the way over to where we are."

"Ok, we are on our way there." She said as she was about to hang up, but stopped when she heard Fuji's voice again.

"I should warn you, you are not going to like what you see here. She is in very bad shape."

"Oh dear, I'll over there as soon as possible." With that said she hung up the phone and started for the park with the rest following her.

XXXXX

Upon arriving to where her daughter was found beaten to a bloody mess Ms. Hamasaki was distraught at the sight of her daughter. She went right up to Ayame sat knelt next to Fuji who currently had Ayame's head resting in his lap. Ayame's mother was in tears when she finally saw her daughter. But even though she was crying, she managed speak out the group of boys that were with her.

"Did you guys call an ambulance already?"

"Yes, we called an ambulance. They are supposed to be on their way." Fuji said in very dreary tone.

"Good, then all we can do is wait."

It took another five minutes before the ambulance showed up to the designated location. When they got to the location the two men that were in the ambulance got out and approached the group and went directly over to were Fuji and Ayame's mother were currently sitting with an unconscious Ayame. When they approached Fuji who had a hold of Ayame, he looked at them with a forlorn look in his eyes and finally spoke with a tone to match it.

"Please save her. She does not deserve any of this."

"We will do what we can in order to save her, but first you have to let go of her so can get her to the hospital in order help her." After the guy said that Fuji reluctantly let go of Ayame and watched as they carried her away and put her in the ambulance with her mother following in suit. Without even thinking Fuji followed the men and climbed into the back of the ambulance after gaining permission to do so by the crew on the ambulance. They were then on their way to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital Ayame was automatically rushed into the operating room to deal with deal with her very severe wounds. Fuji and Ayame's mother were forced to sit in the waiting room until they got word of Ayame's condition. After about a half an hour of being in the waiting room Fuji's family came through the door along with Yuki, Ayame's younger sister and the rest of the group. They were all waiting in the waiting room for word on Ayame's condition. When the doctor finally came out of the operating room to tell them of Ayame's condition it was already very late and the only ones who remained were Ayame's mother and sister and Fuji. Fuji's family had left to go home, but gave Fuji permission to stay as long as it was alright with Ayame's mother. Little Yuki, was out cold, but Fuji and her mother were still awake. They were just too distraught to sleep. So when the doctor came out, he automatically caught their attention. As soon as Ayame's mother managed to speak without waking up he daughter who happened to sleeping in her lap.

"How is Ayame? Please tell me she ok." Ayame's mother said while Fuji just looked at the doctor with pleading eyes. Before they could say anything else the doctor decided to speak up.

"Ayame is currently in the Intensive Care Unit recovering. She is stable at the moment, but there is something else I need to say."

"What is it?" Ayame's mother asked. But after looking at his face she could see that it was not good news. Fuji also saw that and started to expect the worst.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I'm afraid that Ayame has slipped into a coma, and we don't know when or if she will ever wake up again." The doctor said in a very apologetic voice. After hearing that Ayame's mother started crying for the second time that night. While trying to console Ayame's mother and keep his own emotions under control, Fuji spoke for the first time since they arrived at the hospital.

"Can we go see her?"

"Well, she will not respond to you, but I don't see why you can't."

"That is fine. I just want to see her."

"Ok, her room number is 313A. It is the fifth door on the left on the third floor after you get off the elevator. I would show you the way, but I have other things to attend to."

"That is fine, we understand. Thanks." Fuji said as he watched the doctor turn and go back into the operating room.

"Well, let's go see her." Fuji said to Ayame's mother.

"Ok, we can go as soon as I grab Yuki. After she grabbed Yuki the headed to the elevator and from there they followed the doctors directions to get to Ayame's room. When they made it to her room they hesitated for a moment before going into the room already knowing what to expect. When they got in the room, they saw Ayame laying in the bad with machines hooked to her. That alone was enough to hurt the two. Fuji then went up to the bed and sat one of the chairs that were next to the bed and started to talk to Ayame even though he knew he would not get a response.

"Ayame, I know that you probably can't hear me, but please wake up. I feel like it is my fault that you are in the state that you are in. If I hadn't of tricked you at the café, then you would not have ran off on your own and this would not of happened. I'm sorry. I just want to say one more thing, please wake up, I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again." Fuji said, but before he could finish what he wanted to say, he felt moisture on his face. It was then that he realized that he had started to cry without realizing it. He then noticed that Ayame's mother had been sitting next to him. What happened next was something that he was not expecting, her mother just wrapped her arms around him and held him while he cried on her shoulder. They stayed like that for quite some time.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter three. Again, I'm sorry about the delay. I hope that this was worth the wait though. Please leave a review if you have the desire to do so, if not please read the upcoming chapters. I will do my best to update again soon.


	4. The Feeling of Loneliness

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter four of From Friendship to Love.

Chapter 4:

The Feeling of Loneliness

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Ayame, I know that you probably can't hear me, but please wake up. I feel like it is my fault that you are in the state that you are in. If I hadn't of tricked you at the café, then you would not have ran off on your own and this would not of happened. I'm sorry. I just want to say one more thing, please wake up, I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again." Fuji said, but before he could finish what he wanted to say, he felt moisture on his face. It was then that he realized that he had started to cry without realizing it. He then noticed that Ayame's mother had been sitting next to him. What happened next was something that he was not expecting, her mother just wrapped her arms around him and held him while he cried on her shoulder. They stayed like that for quite some time._

It has been almost six months since the night that Ayame was hospitalized. Things had not been the same around her house or her school. Everybody who were close to her were very upset but were still able to continue on with their lives. Then there were those who were affected worse and were not able to carry on with their lives normally would, but despite how badly they were affected by the whole ordeal, everybody did what they could to move on. There were three individuals that were affected pretty badly. Those there individuals were currently visiting her in the hospital.

/Ayame, please wake up. It's been almost six months and things just aren't the same without you./ Fuji thought to himself while he looked at Ayame. He was looking at her, but a voice caught his attention, so he looked in the direction of the voice.

"Fuji Kun, it's beginning to get late and Yuki and I are getting ready to leave now. Do you want me to take you home?"

"No, that's ok. I will walk home. I want to stay a little longer."

Ok, but please be careful when going home."

"I will, and thanks for the offer."

"You're welcome. Well, we are leaving, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Actually, I might not be able to make it tomorrow. The Kanto finals are tomorrow and I have to attend."

"Oh, well, good luck. I guess I'll see you whenever I see you again."

"Yeah, I'll see you soon." Fuji said as Ayame's mother walked out of the room leaving Fuji alone with the unconscious Ayame. Fuji then turned his attention back to the unconscious girl. As he was looking at her he began to remember some feelings that he got without her by his side. From time it time he would feel like something was missing and felt extremely lonely even though he was with his other friends. He didn't understand what the cause of it or what it meant. All he knew was that when he did experience it, it really bothered him. But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and got ready to leave because visiting hours were over, but before he left he went over to Ayame to Ayame and spoke a few words before leaving the rom.

"Ayame, I will be back to see you again soon. Hopefully you will be awake by then." With that said, Fuji left the room. After he left the room he started to walk home. The entire way home the only thing he thought about was Ayame. When he made it home he went straight upstairs to his room and went to bed to get the much needed rest for the important match the following day.

XXXXX

The next day had come and Fuji and the others managed to secure victory, but it was no easy feat. Fuji was now on his way out of the gates to go home when somebody caught his attention.

"Hey, Fuji, it's been awhile." Said the person.

"Oh, it's you Shinji san. I see you have Keiko and Yuki Chan with you too."

"Yes. We are on our way to the hospital before visiting hours end. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure, but why are you guys here instead of at the hospital?"

"Well, we heard from my mother that you had an important match, so we came to watch it."

"Well, thanks for that." With that said, they left for the hospital to see Ayame. When they made it to Ayame's room, they noticed that Ayame's mother was still in there and was sitting by her side. She looked up when she heard the others enter the room. They were in there for a few hours before visiting hours had ended. So everybody gathered their things and left. Fuji took one last look at her before he left for the night. But when he looked at her he failed to notice the slight twitch in her hand as he left the room.

**Authors Notes: **Well, that's the end of chapter four of From Friendship to Love. I'm sorry for the delay and the short chapter, but I had a slight case of writer's block and some computer problems. Well, as always, leave a review if you desire. This is goodbye until next chapter.


	5. The Text

**Authors Notes: **Here is chapter five of From Friendship to Love.

Chapter 5:

The Text

_Recap of last chapter: _

_Fuji took one last look at her before he left for the night. But when he looked at her, he failed to notice the slight twitch in her hand as he left the room._

Afternoon practice had just ended for Fuji and the others and Fuji was currently in the locker room getting changed to go home. As soon as he walked out of the locker room, went straight to the gates, ready to depart. But before he could make it out of the gates, he was stopped by a group of his teammates.

"Fujiko, we're going to get something to eat. Would you like to join us?" Kikumaru asked him.

"Sorry Eiji, but maybe some other time. I have some things I need to do."

"Ok, suit yourself. I guess we'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you guys later." Fuji said as he walked through the gate and started on his way toward his house. As he walked he was not really paying attention to where he was going. Thinking about nothing in general, he paid no mind to the direction in which he was walking. When he finally stopped to figure out where he was, he was astonished to see that he ended up in his favorite place in the park; the pond that was not well known to others. He adored the spot so much because it was a tranquil, peaceful place. It somehow calmed him, so he often went there when he wanted to think. So instead of leaving and going home, he decided to stay there and relax his restless mind. He sat down under a tree and just admired the surroundings. As he was looking around, he began to relax and he eventually drifted into a light slumber. As he slept, his mind played back some of his memories of the times he spent with Ayame, some more painful than others.

Memories:

I was walking through the park one day and saw a lonely girl sitting by herself, so I decided to go over and see if she wanted to play. After the initial confrontation she agreed. We eventually spotted the tennis courts and decided to watch the matches that were going on between some older kids. As we were trying to get situated, her foot got stuck on the bleachers and she fell over hit her head. She was later rushed to the hospital.

We were walking home from school one day and Ayame seemed to be a little upset about something, but she wasn't willing to talk about it. So to ease her mind, I decided to take her to my favorite place. When we got there, her reaction was exactly what I expected. She seemed so astounded by the sight in front of her. But after sometime, the sadness came back and she told me that she was going to be moving soon.

Before we knew it, the day that Ayame was to leave had arrived. When I got to her house everybody was already in the car. Right before she could shut the door to leave I managed to call out to her, thus grabbing her attention. She got back out of the car. I could see on her face that she was very much distressed and was on the verge of tears, but held them back. We stood there for some time just saying our goodbyes before she hugged me, got in the car, and shouted her final goodbye before disappearing from my sight.

It had been a few days after she had returned to Japan from America, where she had spent six years. She had been watching some of the matches of the boys' tennis club. As I was playing, I noticed her standing there with a face like she had just remembered something. When we both had some free time she pulled me to the side and spoke to me personally. After her thoughts were verified, she hugged me and started crying.

Suddenly Fuji was awoken from his slumber when he felt his phone start to vibrate. Sliding it out of his pocket, he peered groggily at the bright screen, eyes blurred with sleep.  
_One new message_, it read.  
Opening the text, his mind immediately cleared, and his heart sped into a ragged pounding of panic.  
_Get to the hospital as soon as possible._

Author's notes: Well, that is the end of chapter 5. I'm very sorry about the shortness of the chapter, but this is all I could do at the moment. Please leave a review if you have the desire to do so. I will update again as soon as possible.


	6. Awoken at Last

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter six of From Friendship to Love.

Chapter 6:

Awoken at Last

_Recap of last chapter:_

_Suddenly Fuji was awoken from his slumber when he felt his phone start to vibrate. __Sliding it out of his pocket, he peered groggily at the bright screen, eyes blurred with sleep.  
__One new message__, it read.  
Opening the text, his mind immediately cleared, and his heart sped into a ragged pounding of panic.  
__Get to the hospital as soon as possible._

Fuji was currently running as fast as he could toward the hospital. When he finally made it to the hospital, he automatically raced inside and to the elevator to go to Ayame's room. As he got to her door, he was very fearful of what he might see. Putting his fear behind him, he grabbed the door handle and hesitantly turned it to open the door. As he opened the door, he noticed that only Ayame's mother, sister, and Ayame herself were the only people in the room. As he shut the door, both Ayame's mother and sister turned to see who it was that had entered the room. When they realized who it was Ayame's mother went over to tell him why she said to come to the hospital immediately. When Fuji saw that Ayame's mother was coming toward him, he expected to see a sad, forlorn expression on her face, but what he saw was the complete opposite, the expression on her face was happy, but he didn't know why. When she finally got to him he instantly asked her what was on his mind.

"What's going on? Why did you tell me to come here so suddenly?"

"Well, because I have some good news."

"Really? Would that be?"

"Ayame has finally woken up after all this time."

"Seriously? Is she awake right now?"

"Yes, and she wants to see you." After hearing that Fuji nodded and slowly made his way toward Ayame. When he finally made it over to her all he could do was stare at her. That was until he heard Ayame's voice for the first time in about six months.

"Fuji, is that you?"

Yes, it's me."

"I'm glad you are here."

"I'm glad you are awake again. I've missed you a lot."

"What exactly happened to me anyway?"

"Well, I don't know all the details, all I know is that you were very badly beat up when we found you underneath a tree. Do you remember anything that happened?"

"Well, I do remember a little from before I blacked out."

"Can you tell me?"

Yes, I'll tell you what I remember."

"Ok, I'm listening whenever you are ready."

"Well, the first thing I remember is leaving the café after getting irritated with you. When I was on my way home I realized that I was being followed. I don't remember anything else, sorry."

"No, that's ok. I should be the one who is sorry. If it wasn't for me messing with you, you would not gotten into trouble like you did."

"Don't blame yourself. It was not your fault. I'm to blame because I should not have gone off on my own with it being as late as it was."

"But I'm the one who caused it."

"I'm the one who ran off, so we are both at fault."

"Ok, I can deal with that."

"Oh, Fuji, I was wondering something."

"What is it?"

"What exactly has happened since I was put in the hospital?"

"Well, a lot has happened. Both the girls and guys tennis clubs have qualified to participate in the Kanto tournament, which will be starting in a couple weeks. Both teams have been practicing hard for that."

"That's awesome, I wish I could participate, but I'm sure that they have already replaced me by now. I mean it has been about six months."

"Actually, you still have a chance. The intra school tournament isn't until next week. I'm sure the girls would be glad to have you back."

"Yeah, but let's just hope I still have what it takes."

"I'm sure that you do."

"Thanks for the encouragement, I just hope that I can get out of here and be able to play before then."

"That should not be a problem." After hearing that both Fuji and Ayame turned to see her mother and doctor in the doorway.

"What do you mean?" both Fuji and Ayame asked at the same time.

"What I mean is that you are free to leave tonight. Everything checked out ok."

"Seriously?" Ayame asked in a hopeful tone.

"Yes. Now if you would like, here are your clothes so you can get changed and we can be on our way." Ayame's mother said. After her mother said that, Ayame jumped out of that bed and darted for the bathroom after getting her clothes from her mother. After she came out, they left the hospital to drop Fuji off at his house and to return home themselves.

**Authors Notes:** Well, that is the end of chapter six of From Friendship to Love. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Please leave a review to tell me what you think. Anyways, I will have the next chapter up soon. I already have the next couple chapters planned out; it's just a matter of getting the written and posted.


	7. Time of Fun and Awkwardness

**Authors Notes: **Here is chapter seven of From Friendship to Love.

Chapter 7:

Time of Fun and Awkwardness

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_What I mean is that you are free to leave tonight. Everything checked out ok."_

"_Seriously?" Ayame asked in a hopeful tone._

"_Yes. Now if you would like, here are your clothes so you can get changed and we can be on our way." Ayame's mother said. After her mother said that, Ayame jumped out of that bed and darted for the bathroom after getting her clothes from her mother. After she came out, they left the hospital to drop Fuji off at his house and to return home themselves._

It had been a few days since Ayame was released from the hospital and Fuji and Ayame were spending time together before returning back to class the next day. The two had spent the last couple days at Ayame's house because the doctor released her, but she was told to take it easy for a few days. Now that those few days were up, Ayame and Fuji were out walking around trying to figure out what to do since it was the first time in several months since they had hung out like that. When they were walking they were discussing what they were going to do.

"Hey, Fuji, do you have any ideas for what to do today?"

"Well, actually, I do."

"Really? What is it?"

"You'll see."

"Come on, why won't you tell me?"

"It's a surprise, but we still have time before we need to be there, so let's do something to pass the time."

"Ok." Right as Ayame said that she saw an ice cream parlor across the street from where they were currently standing at.

"Hey, let's go for some ice cream." Ayame said pointing at the little ice cream shop across the street.

"Sure, ice cream sounds good." Fuji said as he turned toward the crosswalk to get across the street. After the light that signaled for the pedestrians to walk turned green, both Ayame and Fuji walked across the crosswalk to the other side of the road. After they got across the street, they went inside the ice cream shop. As they walked into the parlor, they saw some people they did not expect to see. As the two walked into the shop the group of three turned to see who had entered in case it was somebody they knew, and sure enough, the three recognized the two automatically.

"Hey, Fujiko, come join us." A certain redhead said when he noticed Fuji walk into the shop. When Fuji and Ayame were done ordering their ice cream, the two went over to where the trio was sitting and took a seat. When Ayame sat down the three looked at her in shock.

"Nya, Fujiko, is that who I think it is?"

"Yes Eiji, this is Ayame."

"Wow, it has been such a long time. I'm happy to see you again." Kikumaru said as he tackled the girl, giving her a big bear hug. After looking at Ayame, Fuji saw that she was starting to turn blue and decided it was time to intervene.

"Eiji, let go of her. She is starting to turn blue." After Fuji said that, Kikumaru let go of the poor girl, thus leaving her gasping for air. After she got her breath, Ayame decided to speak.

"Kikumaru, it is nice to see you again, but please refrain from suffocating me with your iron grip hugs again." After she said that everybody began to laugh because that was something that they did not expect to hear come from the normally sweet natured girl. After everybody stopped laughing and started eating their ice cream, one of the other two decided to speak for the first time since the two had arrived.

"Hey, Hamasaki sempai, it is really nice to see you again. How long have you been out of the hospital?"

"Momoshiro, you can call me Ayame, actually, I prefer that you call me Ayame. That goes for you too, Echizen. Oh, and to answer your question Momoshiro, I've been out for almost a week now."

"That's cool, so are you returning to class tomorrow? Oh, and before I forget, call me Momo."

"Yes, I will be returning back to class and the courts tomorrow. It will be good to get back out there."

"That's awesome, I liked watching you play. You are actually really good. One of the best girls I've ever seen play."

"Thanks Momo. It's nice to hear that kind of thing being said, but can you guys excuse me, I have to go to the restroom." Ayame said as she got up and headed to the bathroom. When she was away, Fuji decided to be devious, and switched his wasabi flavored ice cream with Ayame's ice cream to play a trick on her. When he did that, he looked straight at the other three at the table the table and spoke in one of his more scary voices.

"Do not say anything about that or you will pay for it later." While he was saying that, he gave them a look that sent shivers down their spines. After he said that he got a nod and fearful expressions from them. A few minutes later Ayame returned to the table and instantly noticed a change in the atmosphere at the table.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Kikumaru managed to say.

"OK, whatever you say." Ayame said as she began to eat the ice cream that was in front of her. After she took one bite of it she instantly dropped her spoon and looked at Fuji.

"You switched out our ice creams when I was away didn't you."

"Yes." After he said that he was surprised to see a wicked smile on her face as she spoke.

"Too bad for you, I actually like wasabi, so your attempt to trick me was useless."

"Well, that's a surprise, Fuji sempai has finally found somebody who shares his weird liking for wasabi." Momoshiro said to Kikumaru and Echizen, who both nodded at his response.

"I heard that Momoshiro." Ayame said as she looked at the boy sitting in front of her. Momoshiro shivered when she looked at him because her look was just as sinister, if not more so than Fuji's stare.

"Hey, Echizen and Kikumaru sempai, I think I'm going to leave now because I have things I need to do." Momoshiro said as he got up and headed for the door.

"Momo sempai, wait up." Echizen said as he went after his sempai after seeing the look on Ayame's face.

"Now that I think about it, I have things to do too." Kikumaru said as he headed for the door. After the three left, Ayame looked at Fuji and started laughing.

"I can't believe you scared them off like that. You have really changed since I first met you all those years ago, haven't you."

"Yes, I have. It's all thanks to you. If I had not met you I would probably still be that shy girl I used to be."

"Well, anyway, I think it is about time we get going too. I said I had a surprise for you. Remember?"

"Oh yeah. Let's go then." With that said, both of them left to go to their destination. After a little walking, Ayame and Fuji made it to where they were heading. When Ayame saw where they were she became really excited.

"Are you serious? This was you surprise, the carnival?"

"Yes, it was. I'm glad that you like it."

"Like it, I love it."

"Well, let's go in." Fuji said as he led her into the carnival grounds. As they were walking in the carnival Ayame wanted to try everything she saw and ride every ride she saw. Just when she thought that there were no more rides to ride she saw the Ferris wheel and instantly turned pale in the face. Without noticing Ayame's face, Fuji kept going toward the Ferris wheel because he personally wanted to ride it with her. When they made it to the Ferris wheel and got on Ayame began to get really nervous. It was then that Fuji noticed Ayame's weird behavior.

"Ayame, what's wrong? You look like you're about to be sick."

"Fuji, I can't ride this. I'm terrified of heights." At first Fuji thought she was trying to trick him to get back at him for earlier, but he then looked into her eyes and saw horror in them. He then went and sat next to her and sat next to the frightened girl. When he sat next her, he tried to calm her down by talking to her.

"Why didn't you tell me before we got on?"

"I didn't say anything because you seemed like you really wanted to ride it, and you've done what I wanted to do all night and I would have felt like a brat if I didn't let you have a bit of fun…"

"Ayame, I would not have made you get on had you have told me. Also, I have had a lot of fun tonight, so you would not have spoiled my night."

"Really?"

"Really, you really should have said something."

"I'm sorry that I didn't say something beforehand… "Just as she said that the Ferris wheel froze, leaving the two stranded at the top. Being stuck at the top of the Ferris wheel, Ayame really began to freak out. Upon seeing his companion in such distress, Fuji put his arms around her and held her in an attempt to calm her down. While holding her, he spoke to her in a soothing tone.

"It's ok. I won't let anything happen to you." After he said that Ayame looked up slightly, only to look back down blushing. She didn't really know why, but when she looked at him she got a strange feeling throughout her body. After everything was repaired and they got off the Ferris wheel Fuji decided that it was best to go home, so they left and went on their way back to their houses. When he dropped Ayame off at her house they said their goodbyes and hugged each other like they usually did, but something felt different this time. He got a very strange this time. He got a very awkward feeling that ran through his body. As he made his way home he pondered on that the feeling was and why he felt it.

**Authors Notes:** That is the end of chapter seven. I hope you enjoyed reading it. That was the longest chapter that I have written in a long time. Well, anyway, please leave a review, if you desire. I will update again soon.


	8. Trouble between Friends

**Author's Note:** Here is chapter eight. Just a fair warning, I will not write out the matches because I just totally fail at them. If I were to, they would be very bad. Also things separated by XXXX are going on at the same time.

Chapter 8:

Trouble between Friends

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_It's ok. I won't let anything happen to you." After he said that Ayame looked up slightly, only to look back down blushing. She didn't really know why, but when she looked at him she got a strange feeling throughout her body. After everything was repaired and they got off the Ferris wheel Fuji decided that it was best to go home, so they left and went on their way back to their houses. When he dropped Ayame off at her house they said their goodbyes and hugged each other like they usually did, but something felt different this time. He got a very strange this time. He got a very awkward feeling that ran through his body. As he made his way home he pondered on that the feeling was and why he felt it._

Ever since the night they were at the carnival, Fuji and Ayame have not seem much of each other because every time they see each that strange feeling returns to them causing awkwardness and tension between the two. There are times when they can't avoid each other, like during class where they are stuck sitting right next to each other. They used to talk to each other and have a blast with one another, but that was not the case lately. They sit there ignoring each other, not even sparing a second to look at each other to say a simple hello. That itself was enough to cause the entire class to become curious. Filled with curiosity, their classmates would consistently bombard the two with question about what was going on between the two, but they never got the answers they wanted. Instead they got the silent treatment or an "I don't feel like talking about it. That alone was enough to lead to more confusion amongst their classmates. As soon as the bell rang for their final class of the day, Ayame and Fuji both got up from their simultaneously and went to the door only to go in opposite directions when they walked out. After getting up and leaving the room himself, Kikumaru being a close friend of Fuji's wanted to get to the bottom of things. So he followed Fuji out the door as normal, but this time he wanted to have a chat with his friend. When he finally caught up to Fuji he decided to say what was on his mind.

"Hey, Fujiko, can I speak to you?"

"Sure, what do you want to talk to me about, Eiji?"

"Well, actually, it's about you and Ayame. I know you don't really want to talk about it, but it's beginning to bother me…"

"I really don't want to talk about it, but since you are my friend, I guess I can tell you, but only if you promise not to tell anybody else."

"I won't." Kikumaru said for fear of what Fuji might do to him if he did say something.

"Fine, Ayame and I aren't talking because something happened the other night, but I'm not exactly sure what."

"I don't understand, how do you not know what happened?"

"I just can't explain it."

"But things were fine when we were with you. Did something else happen?"

"Nothing really, we just spent the remainder of our night at the carnival, but nothing out of the ordinary happened that I can think of."

"Well, then I don't know, but I do know that if we don't hurry, we will be late to practice and we don't want that."

"Yeah, let's go." With that said both boys went on their way to make it to practice before they were late and forced to do laps. When they made it to the locker room, the two quickly changed and joined their teammates on the courts. When the two got there Coach Ryuzaki was getting ready to call the team to line up so she could explain what was going on. After everybody was lined up, she began her speech.

"As you guys are aware, the Kanto tournament starts next week, so it is time to see who the regulars will be. Remember to do your best and might just be one. Alright, now go to your designated courts and begin." She said and everybody dispersed and headed to toward their courts to start with the tournament to decide who the regulars will be for the Kanto tournament.

XXXX

The girls were getting ready to start the intra school tournament and Ayame was really looking forward to it because she wanted to get back into real matches, not just practices matches. As Ayame was about to enter the court for her match, she heard another voice calling out to her.

"Hamasaki sempai, good luck with your matches." Ayame then turned around to look at the girl who had spoken to her and smiled at her as she gave her response.

"Thank you very much. I'm happy to know that somebody is cheering me on." Right after she said that, Ayame went into the court and got prepared for her first match of the tournament. After sitting her bag on the bench and getting her racket out of her bag, Ayame went over to the net where her opponent was waiting on her. When she approached the net, both she and her opponent shook hands and began the match. After about ten minutes, the match had ended and the referee announced the final score as 6-0 with it being Ayame's win. After the two shook hands again, Ayame put her racket back in her bag and left the court to report her score. When her score was recorded, Ayame decided to walk around for a bit before her next match starts. As she was walking, she found herself wandering close to the guys' courts. Not wanting to run into Fuji at the moment, Ayame thought it would be better not to go any further and turned around heading back to the girls' courts.

XXXX

Fuji was currently walking off the court after dominating his opponent with a score of 6-0. He was currently heading to record his score. After the score was recorded, he decided to walk for a bit while for his next match to start, just as Ayame had. As he was walking, he wandered close to the girls' section without noticing. When he realized where he was, he saw a certain strawberry blonde girl walking his way. Without a second thought, he instantly turned around and walked for the opposite direction back towards the guys' courts.

XXXX

Just as Ayame was about to turn and return to the girls' side, she thought she saw somebody familiar to her, but could not tell who it was because their back was turned to her, walking in the opposite direction. She put that to the back of her mind and continued walking back to where her next match was going to be held. Right as she got back, she noticed that the match right before her had just ended. So she headed over to the court to get situated and to wait for her opponent to get on the court. As she waited, her mind began to wander to her current situation with Fuji. She had several thoughts run through her mind, like what exactly that feeling she got was. She had been wondering that for the past few days, basically since it happened. While she let her mind wander, she failed to notice that somebody was trying to get her attention.

"Hey, Hamasaki, we need to start the match now."

"Huh, oh, sorry." Ayame said as she got up and went to the net to decide who gets first serve. It was decided that Ayame get first serve, so she went to her place and started the match. After a very quick match, Ayame was able to secure an easy victory with a score of 6-0. Now that Ayame was done with her match she decided to watch one of the other matches that were still going on. To her surprise, there was only one match still going on, and that was a match between the captain and one of the non regulars. The match ended just as quickly as it started. The team captain completely annihilated the other player, but she was also nice enough to give the other player some tips on how to improve her game so she can do better next time. Now it was time for their lunch break and then Ayame had two more matches, then she was done for the day.

XXXX

It had just hit lunch time for Fuji and the rest of the guys. Fuji was currently sitting under a tree quietly enjoying his lunch when all of a sudden his peaceful silence was disturbed by a very hyperactive person.

"There you are Fujiko. I've been looking for you since my match started."

"I've been here since my match ended."

"I see. What were you thinking about anyway?"

"Nothing in particular."

"You were thinking about Ayame, weren't you?"

"Yes, to an extent anyway."

"You know, it's obvious to me that you want to be around Ayame again, so why not just go talk to her?"

"It isn't that easy. I want to, but she doesn't seem to want to talk with me."

"You should make her listen."

"I'll try to talk to her later." Fuji said as he got up and headed back to the courts because lunch break was over.

XXXX

Ayame was sitting on a bench pondering over some things by herself, when one of her close friends came up to her to chat.

"Hey, Ayame, do you mind if I sit here?"

"Huh, oh, it's you Midoriko. Go ahead, I don't mind if you sit here."

"So, what is it you were thinking about?"

"Some of the things going on, why do you ask?"

"I'm just wondering. By any chance, are you talking about Fuji again?"

"How did you know?" Ayame asked while a bit of a blush crept up on her cheeks.

"Well, it is obvious. That is basically all you think about now days. You like him, don't you?"

"I don't know how I feel about him to be truthful."

"Really? How do you not know?"

"Well, if I tell you, do you promise not to tell anybody else?"

"Yes, I promise that I won't tell anybody else."

"Ok, something happened between us recently and it has caused us problems between us. That is why we are no longer talking to one another."

"What exactly happened?

"Well, we did as we always do when we are together, but this time when he hugged me, I got this strange feeling that ran through me. I don't really know what it means."

"I think I know what's going on."

"You do? Please tell me."

"I think you really like him. You need to go talk with him."

"I would, but it isn't that easy."

"Just try to talk to him. If he doesn't want to talk, then forget him."

"I will try later, but now we need to worry about our matches." Ayame said as she left towards the courts.

Several hours later Ayame was back at home sitting in her room doing her homework, when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in." After she said that, the door opened enough for her mom to peek her head inside to see that her daughter doing her homework, but there was a look on her face that made her seem sad and confused. After seeing her daughter's face she decided to walk in and sit on her bed.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't try to fool me. I'm your mother, and I can tell that something is bothering you."

"Well, since there is no hiding things from you, I might as well tell you. It has to do with Fuji."

"I've noticed that you two have not been hanging around with each other or speaking to one another. What happened?"

"I'm not too sure myself. I'm confused the situation and I don't know how to fix it."

"Maybe I can help you out. Can you explain the situation?"

"I can try."

"Ok, I'm listening, so start when you are ready."

"Well, things started out like any normal day, but in the end things changed. At first, we were just taking a walk until we saw an ice cream parlor. We stopped by there and ended up meeting up with three of Fuji's teammates, so we chatted with them for a while. After we left there, we went to the carnival. We had a good time, but when we got back here things changed."

"How exactly did things change?"

"Well, you know how we usually hug when he leaves to go home, right?

"Yes, I know about that, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, last time we did that, I got a really strange feeling. It felt kind of like butterflies fluttering around in my stomach."

"It seems to me that you are in love with Fuji."

"Then what should I do?"

"Go talk to him that is all you can really do in this situation."

"Well, if that is what you think I should do, then I will try to talk to him."

"What do you mean by try? Just talk to him."

"Well, I would, but I don't know if he will listen to me."

"Well, I guess you have to make him listen to you."

"Ok, mom. I will talk to him tomorrow."

"Ok, but for now, I think you should go to sleep. It is getting late."

"Ok, good night mom."

"Good night Ayame." Her mother said as she turned out the light and shut the door behind her.

**Author's Notes:** Well, that is the end of chapter eight of From Friendship to Love. I'm very sorry for the extremely late update, but I lost interest in writing this for a while, but I will try to make up for it now. I already have chapter nine written and ready to type, so I will have it up by the end of the day. Please leave a review to give me our opinion on things so far.


	9. The Confession

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter nine. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 9:

The Confession

Ayame had just woken up and looked at the clock to see that it was an hour before she had to get ready for class. She decided to roll over and try to go back to sleep, but she could not get back to sleep. Since she was not able to get back to sleep, Ayame decided to just get up and start getting ready for class, despite it being early. She went to her dresser and got her school uniform and headed for the shower. After her shower, she went downstairs to eat something for breakfast. When she got downstairs, she was surprised to see that her mother was already awake.

"Good morning mom, I'm surprised to see you up this early."

"Good morning to you too Ayame. You do realize that I could say the same thing for you."

"Ha ha, yeah, I woke up and could not get back to sleep, so I decided to get ready for class and get there early."

"Ok. Is there anything in particular you want for breakfast since we are both up?"

"No, not really, I was just going to have some cereal."

"Ok, then I won't worry about making anything until your sister gets up."

After eating her breakfast and having a small conversation with her mother, Ayame went back upstairs to brush her teeth and get her stuff. As she was about to leave she was stopped by her mother.

"Ayame, don't forget your lunch."

"Thanks mom." Ayame said as she took the home made bento and walked out of the door. On her way to class Ayame decided to stop by the park and sit for a little bit. As she was sitting, she watched as a couple squirrels chased each other, until they finally went up into a tree out of her sight. She then pulled out her cell phone to see time it was. After seeing the time, she decided that she should start getting a move on. After Ayame finally made it to her class, Ayame was not surprised to see that it was empty considering there was about an hour before class started. She decided to make good use of her time and took out her books to do a bit of last minute studying before class because she had a test in her first class, so she wanted to be prepared. As time went by, the class became more and more filled. Also, she didn't fail to notice when a certain boy came into the room. She did not say anything to him and continued with what she was doing. After about five minutes, the teacher came into the classroom and announced that they had a test today. After hearing that, Ayame cleared off her desk and waited to retrieve her test. As soon as she got the test she automatically started it. As always, Ayame finished her test very quickly and was able to do what she pleased, as long as she did not distract the other students from completing their tests. With her being the only student done, Ayame took out a book and started reading. After about ten minutes of reading, Ayame looked up from the book she was reading to see that Fuji was now done with his test as well. She then took out a piece of paper and started to write something down and slid it over to Fuji who grabbed the paper, but looked at her with a questionable look. When she saw that he was looking at her, Ayame gave him a look that said just read it. Seeing her face, Fuji looked at the piece of paper and read:

I need to talk to you after class.

After reading what she had written down, he wrote something else on the paper and passed it back to Ayame. When Ayame got the paper she looked at it and read:

Ok, we can meet under the cherry blossom trees in the courtyard during lunch.

After reading that Ayame gave him a nod and went back to reading her book until the rest of the students finished the test, which took until the end of class. After the bell rang for the next class, everybody got out of their seats and out the door to go to their next class. As Ayame and Fuji got up to leave, they looked at each other and smiled as they left the room and headed for their next class.

XXXX

Ayame was standing, not paying attention to any of her surroundings. The only thing that was on her mind was Fuji. She was so caught up on Fuji that she didn't even notice that somebody was screaming at her.

"Ayame, watch out!" But it was too late. Before she had time to respond, Ayame was pelted in the face by a soaring soccer ball. When the ball made contact with her face, Ayame was instantly sent to the ground, unconscious. Not long after she was hit by the soccer ball, Fuji, Kikumaru, and another boy came running over to where the girls were at to retrieve the ball. That was until they saw Ayame laying on the ground unconscious with the other girls hovering over her. Fuji being as close to her as he was, instantly got concerned and went to her side. Without a second thought, Fuji scooped Ayame up into his arms and ran for the nurse's office while shouting something behind him.

"I'm going to take her to the infirmary."

As he ran with Ayame in his arms all he could think about was the girl he had in his arms. It did not take long to make it to the infirmary. When he made it to where he was going, the nurse caught sight of him and instructed him to put Ayame down on one of the beds. After doing what he was told, the nurse had told him to tell her what had happened while she examined Ayame to see if there was anything wrong that needed immediate attention, when she found none, she directed her attention to Fuji and after fully hearing his explanation, she told him that Ayame would be fine and that she could return to class when she woke up. It didn't take long for Ayame to wake up. As soon as she woke up, the nurse gave them both passes to return back to class. As they were returning to class there was a silence between them, but they were not awkward at all. They were actually quite comfortable with just being together. By the time they made it back to class, there was only five minutes left until the end of gym class, so the two went to their individual locker rooms to change and get ready for their next class.

While sitting in math class, Ayame could not focus on the lesson. Instead, all she could focus on was a very nasty headache that came out of nowhere. She then put her head down on her desk and did her best to pay attention to the lesson, but failed miserably. Instead, she fell asleep. After awhile, Ayame felt a tap on her shoulder, stirring her from her sleep. As she opened her eyes, Ayame saw Fuji looking at her with a concerned look on his face. Ayame then looked at him with a baffled face, which in return caused him to chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just the face you just gave me."

"Whatever, how long was I asleep?"

"Basically the entire class, but don't worry, you didn't miss anything important, just a quiz on what we went over today."

"What? Why didn't you wake me up?" After watching Ayame freak out, Fuji decided to tell her the truth.

"Ayame, calm down, I was kidding. There was no quiz, but there will be one on Monday over what we went over today. It looks like you have some catching up to do this weekend."

"Oh well, I guess I have work to do this weekend. Anyways, let's go to lunch. I have something I need to tell you."

"Ok, lets' go then." With that said they both grabbed their lunches and went to the spot where they agreed to meet up at. After the two were both seated and situated, Ayame decided to begin to speak.

"Fuji, as I said before, I have something I need to tell you."

"Well, what is it?"

"This is not easy to say, but I think I'm in love with you…."

**Author's Note:** Well, that is the end of chapter nine. Please leave a review to tell me what you think. I will try to update again as soon as possible.


	10. Plans for a First Date

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter ten. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 10:

Plans for a First Date

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Fuji, as I said before, I have something I need to tell you."_

"_Well, what is it?"_

"_This is not easy to say, but I think I'm in love with you…."_

Fuji could do nothing but sit there and stare at Ayame after she had confessed her true feelings to him. After a few minutes and he had not given a response, Ayame had taken his reaction as a sign the he did not feel the same way and stood up getting ready to leave, but before she did, she spoke a few words.

"Just as I thought, you don't feel the same way about me." She spoke those words as she started to walk away with tears in her eyes. As she was about to walk away, she felt somebody grab her wrist. She then turned around to see who it was, only to see that it was Fuji who had grabbed her.

"Fuji please let go of me."

"Only if you stay here and listen to what I have to say."

"Ok, I will stay here and listen. Ayame said as she sat back down. After she sat back down, Fuji began to speak.

"Ayame, you have no idea how happy you made me when you said that you love me. The fact of the matter is, I love you too." After Fuji said that, he was surprised to find Ayame had flung herself around him with tears running down her face.

"I'm so happy that you feel the same way. After she said that, she let go him so that she could finish her lunch that she had neglected to finish. As the two were finishing their lunches, they were discussing what they were going to do that weekend when Fuji came up with an idea.

"Hey, Ayame, why don't we go to the zoo this weekend? I heard that they have a new polar bear exhibit. We should go check it out."

"That sounds awesome. I'd love to see the polar bear exhibit. Those are actually my favorite animals."

"I know, that is why I specifically mentioned those." The two continued to chat in that manner until the bell rang to return to class. For the rest of the day, all the two could think about was each other and their weekend plans.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter ten. I'm sorry about how short it was, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in there. Well, anyways, please leave a review to give me your opinion on things so far. I already have the next several chapters planned out. All that I need to do is write them out, get them typed up, and then they can be posted, so I should be able to post quicker from now on.


	11. The Date

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter eleven of From Friendship to Love. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 11:

The Date

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Hey, Ayame, why don't we go to the zoo this weekend? I heard that they have a new polar bear exhibit. We should go check it out."_

"_That sounds awesome. I'd love to see the polar bear exhibit. Those are actually my favorite animals."_

"_I know that is why I specifically mentioned those." The two continued to chat in that manner until the bell rang to return to class. For the rest of the day, all the two could think about was each other and their weekend plans._

The day had come for Ayame's and Fuji's date. Ayame was rummaging through her clothes trying to find the perfect outfit. As she was looking through her clothes, she looked at the clock only to see that she had less than an hour to finish getting ready. She was beginning to stress out because she still could not find the right outfit to wear. After several more minutes of searching, Ayame finally decided on a pale pink sun dress with shoes to match. After looking at the clock again, she saw that she only had ten minutes until Fuji was supposed to be there to pick her up. She then rushed to the bathroom so that she could do something with her hair, for it was current a mess. Ayame was quick with doing her hair. Since she didn't have time to straighten her hair like she usually would, Ayame left it in its naturally curly state and decided to leave it down, but put a matching pink headband in her hair, as well as a pretty baby blue flower accessory that she clipped to her headband. Right as she finished doing her hair, she heard a knock on the door. Since she was the only one home, she instantly ran downstairs answer the door. She already knew who was at the door before she even opened the door. So when she saw Fuji waiting on the other side, it didn't surprise her. After Fuji had seen Ayame, he could not help but to compliment her.

"Ayame, you look really nice."

"Thanks, you look nice too. Why don't you come inside for a few minutes? There are still a few things I need to do."

"Sure." Fuji said as he walked in and shut the door behind him. After he entered the house, he watched as Ayame flew through the house making sure that everything was in place and that all were off that were not supposed to be on. After she was done with all of that she went back to where Fuji was waiting for her.

"Well, shall we go now?"

"Yes, let's go." After that was said and done, both teens walked out of the door, but before they left the premises, Ayame made sure to lock the door behind her. After she was done with that, the two started their walk to the bus stop so that they could get to the zoo. When they got to the bus stop the two noticed that their bus was not due to there for another twenty-five minutes, so the two sat on a bench and waited in a comfortable silence. While the two were waiting, Ayame got a little too relaxed and eventually dozed off. While she was sleeping, her head had dropped onto Fuji's shoulder. Upon feeling extra weight on his shoulder, Fuji looked to his side and smiled at what he saw. While admiring the sleeping girl next to him, Fuji couldn't help but notice that she looks beautiful and serene when sleeping. As he was admiring Ayame, the bus had stopped, waiting for them to get on. So Fuji woke Ayame and the two got on the bus. When the two go on, they were surprised to see that they were the only passengers, so they instantly found a seat and sat down. As the bus took them to their destination, Fuji and Ayame carried out a quiet conversation. After about a half an hour, the bus finally reached the zoo and both teens got off and started walking toward their place of interest. As they got to the entrance, they paid to get in, and the fun started there.

"So, Ayame, where are we off to first?"

"I don't really care, as long as I get to see the polar bears before we leave here."

"Ok, well, if that is the case, then I think I know where we should go first." Fuji said as he took Ayame's hand and led the way. As the two were walking, Ayame began to wonder where she was being led to, but continued to follow without question. After a bit of walking, the two came to a stop. Ayame took a look around and what she saw surprised her. When she saw that they were standing right in front exhibit where the wolves are kept. While polar bears were her favorite animals, wolves were a close second. Ayame took the time to look at the magnificent creatures in front of her. While observing the wolves, Ayame remembered that she had her camera with her, so she took it out and took several pictures before the two moved on to look at other animals. After a few hours of walking around, Ayame and Fuji had examined several organisms. The two were currently sitting down taking a break from all the walking they had just done. As they were sitting on the edge of a fountain, Ayame was looking through the photos that she had taken that day. Just as she got to the end of the photos, Ayame thought of something.

"Hey, Fuji, we should so take a picture together."

"Ayame, please call me by my first name now that we are dating."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not used to calling you that."

"It's fine, but from not on, please try to refrain from calling me Fuji from now on."

"Ok, but what about that picture?"

"Sure, we can take as many as you want, but who is going to take them?"

"I can take them myself. It is not that difficult."

"Ok, well then let's get those pictures done with."

"Sure thing." After that was said, Fuji and Ayame took several pictures with many different poses, some being silly, while others were more formal. After the two finished with the pictures, they decided to go look at the rest of the animals and to go to the petting zoo. While the two were in the petting zoo, one of the sheep had bitten Ayame when she was feeding it, causing her to jump back and hold her hand in pain. After that, the two decided it would be better to get out of there and to deal with Ayame's hand. After they left the petting zoo, Fuji automatically turned his full attention to Ayame.

"Ayame, how is that hand of yours doing?"

"Terrific." Ayame said sarcastically.

"Here, let me see it."

"Ok." After she said that, Fuji took Ayame's hand causing her to wince in pain.

"There doesn't seem to be any major damage, but you should really go to the bathroom and clean it up. There is blood on your hand."

"Yeah, I know. I'll go do that now." Ayame said as she started to walk in the direction of the restrooms. Since they were right next to them, Fuji decided to just wait where he was until Ayame got out of the bathroom. After about ten minutes of waiting, Ayame finally came out and instantly went back to Fuji. As soon as she got over to him, he pulled her into a hug and held her for a few minutes before finally letting her go. As he let go of her, he looked directly into her eyes and began speaking to her.

"Ayame tonight was a very fun night. I'm so glad that you agreed to come here with me."

"So am I. Tonight was one of the best nights I have ever experienced, well with the exception of that stupid lamb biting me." After Ayame said that, they both started laughing hysterically at the last part of that statement. But the laughing didn't last long because Fuji started to speak again.

"Tonight made me realize exactly how much I love you." Ayame was a bit shocked after she heard that. Before she could recover from the initial shock of that sudden confession, Fuji leant in and planted a soft, yet passionate kiss on her lips. At first Ayame was a little stunned, but after a few seconds, she relaxed and kissed him back. But the moment was ruined when Ayame's cell phone suddenly went off, causing the two to break apart so that she could see who was calling her. When she saw that it was her brother calling her, being curious to why he was calling her, she automatically picked up.

"Hello?"

"Ayame, it is important that you meet me at the hospital immediately."

"Why? Shinji, what is going on?"

"Just hurry up and get over here. I will explain everything when you get here."

"Ok, I'm on my way, but it might take me a while because at the zoo at the moment."

"Ok, well, get here as soon as possible. It is very urgent." After he said that, he hung up leaving Ayame very confused and frightened at the same time.

"Ayame, what did your brother want?"

"I'm not sure, but I have to go. He said that it is dire that I meet with him." With that said Ayame turned and started running toward the zoo's exit, but before she got very far, she felt a hand on her wrist.

"Ayame, please tell me what's going on. I can see it on your face and I can hear it in your voice that something is wrong."

"I'm sorry, but there is no time. I'll tell you when I find out exactly what is going on. Until then, please take care of yourself." With that said, Ayame turned back around and continued running for the exit to catch a bus so that she could get to the hospital to finally get to the bottom of this mystery that has been set on her, thus leaving behind a very confused and hurt Fuji.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter eleven. I hope you enjoyed it. About the whole petting zoo thing, I'm not sure if there are putting zoos within zoos, or what animals are in petting zoos, so just deal with it. Anyways, please leave a review to tell me what you think thus far. I should have another chapter up soon. I'm in the process of updating my other story, so as soon as I'm done with that, I will work on this one.


	12. A Dire Situation

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter twelve. I hope enjoy it.

Chapter 12:

A Dire Situation

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Ayame, please tell me what's going on. I can see it on your face and I can hear it in your voice that something is wrong."_

"_I'm sorry, but there is no time. I'll tell you when I find out exactly what is going on. Until then, please take care of yourself." With that said, Ayame turned back around and continued running for the exit to catch a bus so that she could get to the hospital to finally get to the bottom of this mystery that has been set on her, thus leaving behind a very confused and hurt Fuji._

Ayame had just gotten off the bus and was now running toward the hospital. When she made it through the doors, she instantly found her brother, his wife, and her sister sitting in the corner of the waiting room. She automatically went over to them with confusion written all over her face. That was until she noticed that her mother was not there.

"Hey, where is mom?"

"That is what we need to talk to you about."

"Ok, what happened?"

"Well, we aren't too sure, but I will tell you what we do know."

"Please do."

"Well, sit down." After Ayame sat down, he continued with what he was going to say. "Like I said before, we don't know exactly what went wrong, but this s what happened. When Keiko and I were over there visiting, mom all of a sudden collapsed. When I got over to her, I noticed that she has blood coming from her nose and mouth. We automatically called the ambulance on her. That is all we know for now." After he finished what he was saying, he looked to his sister to see her reaction. Her reaction was exactly what he thought it would be. She had a shocked expression on her face, but that quickly changed to fear as she began to speak.

"Is she going to b ok?"

"We don't know. We have not heard from the doctor yet."

"Well, I hope they tell us something soon because I'm worried about out mother."

"As are the rest of us, but for now, all we can do is sit here and wait."

"I know." After several hours of waiting, a doctor had finally shown up to talk with the waiting family about their mother's condition. Not being asleep yet, Shinji instantly turned to look at who was coming their way, only to see a doctor approaching.

"I was hoping to hear from somebody sometime soon."

"I'm sorry that you had to wait so long.

"Well, what can you tell me about my mother?"

"Things are not looking good. We still don't know what caused it, but we have done everything we can to find out."

"Ok, but what are her chances of survival?"

"I'm sorry to say this, but her chances are not good. There is a slim chance that she will even make it through the night."

"Thanks for telling me. Please tell me whenever you get any new information."

"I will." With that said, the doctor turned and went back to what he had to do. After the doctor had left, Shinji heard a voice calling to him from the corner of the room.

"Shinji?" After hearing his name, he turned to see that Ayame was awake and began to wonder how long she had been.

"Ayame, how long have you been awake?"

"I was never asleep to begin with."

"So you heard everything?"

"Yes…" Shinji could hear the sadness coming from his sister's voice. So he called her over to him.

"Ayame, come over here." Doing as she was told, she got up from where she was and went over to her brother.

"Ayame, it will be ok." Shinji said as he held her until she eventually fell asleep, which he soon followed.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter twelve. I'm sorry that it is so short, but I hope that you like it anyway. Please leave a review to tell me what you think. I will try to update again soon.


	13. Tragedy Strikes

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter thirteen

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Ayame, it will be ok." Shinji said as he held her until she eventually fell asleep, which he soon followed._

Chapter 13:

Tragedy Strikes

It was now morning and Ayame and the others had just woken up and were in high hopes of going to see their mother. Ayame realized that she had missed morning practice and that she was late for class, but she didn't feel like going to class, and nobody was making her. As the group got up, they were heading to the cafeteria to get some breakfast before. After they were done in there, they decided to go to their mother's hospital room to see how she was holding up. But when they got there, there were a lot of nurses and doctors crowding her room. When they made it to the door, Shinji decided that it would be best to ask and see what is going on. So he went up to the closest person to find out.

"Excuse me, but can you please tell me what is going on?"

"Oh, you are her relatives, aren't you? asked the nurse.

"Yes, now can you please tell me what is going on?" The nurse's face instantly turned forlorn and sorrowful before answering his question. After seeing her face, Shinji braced himself for worst.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but your mother, she didn't make it through the night."

"I expected as much. Thanks for telling me. Can we at least take one last look at her?"

"Well, I don't know, it isn't up to me. I can go see for you if you would like."

"Please do that." After Shinji said that, the nurse walked off to find somebody who could answer Shinji's question. After a minute of waiting, Shinji and the others saw the same nurse that Shinji had spoken to gesture the group into the room, but before the group entered the room, the nurse that they had spoken two spoke to them once again to give them a bit of a warning.

"I should warn you before you go in there that what you see might be a bit disturbing."

"Thanks, but I think we will take our chances." After Shinji said that, the group began to enter the room expecting the worst. When they entered the room, what they saw devastated them, but they were kind of expecting it. What they saw was their mother's nonmoving body. Just like before, their mother's body had a lot of blood on it, mostly on her face. After spending some time in the room and saying and doing the things they felt were needed, Ayame and the others left the room with a painful, empty feeling within them. After leaving the room, the group left the hospital and returned to Shinji's and Keiko's house to figure out what to do about the situation at hand.

XXXX

Fuji was currently sitting in his seat waiting for class to start. There were five minutes left until class was to start, and Fuji still hadn't seen any sight of Ayame and that worried him because Ayame was never late, nor has she missed any days of class other than that long period of time when she was in the hospital. He was so busy worrying about why Ayame wasn't there yet to even notice that the bell had rang and the teacher was now starting his lesson. After an entire day of school and tennis practice had gone by and Ayame had never shown up, Fuji was really concerned. He really got concerned when he remembered their date at the zoo, Ayame left in a hurry saying something about her brother saying to meet him at the hospital. She never did call him that night like she said she would either, in fact, he had not heard from her since then. With that in mind, he took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed her number to see if she will answer. To his dismay, she did not answer and it went to voicemail. He put his phone back in his pocket and started his walk home. When he made it home he was greeted by his sister as he walked inside the house.

"Welcome home Syuusuke."

"Thanks." After hearing the tone in his voice, his sister automatically knew that something was wrong.

"What's wrong Syuusuke?"

"Nothing really, I'm just a little worried about Ayame. She was not at school today and I have not heard from her since we were at the zoo together. But she left in a rush after her brother called her about something."

"Well, maybe something is wrong. Why don't you go pay her a visit at her house?"

"I was thinking about doing that. I just wanted to come home and drop off my stuff."

"Ok, well, then you can go on and get going on then."

"Ok." Fuji said as he went upstairs to put his stuff in his room and then turned and went back downstairs and out the door again. After he left his house and started for Ayame's house, Fuji decided to try and call her one more time, but still got no answer, so he quickened his pace and headed for Ayame's house.

XXXX

Ayame and the others had just gotten to Shinji's house from being at the hospital. The ride home had been silent because everybody was too upset to talk to one another. As of now, nobody has said a single word. As soon as Ayame got into the house, she automatically went up to the room that she always slept in when she stayed with her brother and locked herself up in there not wanting to be bothered at the moment. While in there, Ayame laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling not knowing what to do. She felt numb and totally closed off to everyone. While laying on her bed she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket, but doesn't even bother to look to see who it is because she didn't want to talk to anybody at the moment. While laying there staring at the ceiling, Ayame eventually fell asleep.

XXXX

Fuji had just made it to Ayame's house, but it didn't look like anybody was home, but he knew better than to automatically think that because, Ayame's family always left the lights off unless they needed them, even if they were home. So Fuji decided to go to the door and knock. He waited a minute or two and then knocked again. After getting no answer, Fuji decided to leave, that is until he saw a car pull into the driveway. Fuji recognized the car and went up to it as the doors were being opened. Who he saw get out of the car did not surprise him. When the person got out of the car, he was surprised to find Fuji there and decided to find out why he was there.

"Hey, Fuji, why are you here?"

"Shinji, it is you. I'm actually looking for Ayame. I've tried calling her a couple times and got no answer and it seems that nobody is home either. Do you know where she is?"

"Actually, I do know where she is. She is currently at my house. If you want I can take you over there with me when I 'm done here."

"I'd like that. Do you happen to know why she won't answer her phone?"

"Yes I do. I'll explain it to you on the way to my house, but for now do you mind helping me out here?"

"Ok, sure, but what are we doing?"

"I just need to pick up a few things."

"Ok." After their brief conversation, Fuji and Shinji entered the house and grabbed the stuff that was needed and went back outside to Shinji's car. After putting everything in the backseat, Fuji got into the passenger seat while Shinji got into the driver seat. After both were seated and buckled, Shinji began the drive back to his house.

"So, Shinji, can you tell me why Ayame has been ignoring me? Is she mad at me or something?"

"No, she is not mad at you; in fact, you might just be the person we need to talk to her at the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, to put things simply, she shut herself up in her room and won't come out, nor will she speak to anybody."

"She is obviously upset about something. Now that I think about it, you seem a bit upset yourself, did something happen?

"Yes, something did happen. You see, our mother passed away sometime last night or early this morning."

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter thirteen. I hope that you enjoyed it. Please leave a review to tell me what you think. Well anyways, I hope to have the next chapter up soon, but that will depend on what is going on in my life.


	14. Comforting Those in Need

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter fourteen. I hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter 14:

Comforting Those in Need

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_She is obviously upset about something. Now that I think about it, you seem a bit upset yourself, did something happen?_

"_Yes, something did happen. You see, our mother passed away sometime last night or early this morning."_

After hearing what Shinji had said Fuji was left in shock for a few minutes. After he recovered from the initial shock, Fuji regained his composure he decided to see if he could get more information on the subject.

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did she die?"

"Nobody really knows for certain how she died. We all want to know what exactly caused it."

"I see." After that was said, both Shinji and Fuji remained silent for the rest of the car trip. When they got to where they were going, Fuji and Shinji got the stuff out of the back of the car and headed inside the house. After being told to take some of the stuff upstairs to the room that Ayame had shut herself in, Fuji thought that it would be a good idea to see if he could talk to her that is if he could get her to talk. With that thought in mind, Fuji headed up the stairs at stopped at the first door on the left. When he was in front of it, he knocked on it to see if he could get an answer from Ayame before entering. After hearing nothing, Fuji just opened the door and walked into the room. When he walked in, he was a little surprised at what saw. The room was a very nice, but in the room, he did not see Ayame anywhere. It was then that he saw the curtains fluttering in the breeze. So he put the stuff he was carrying on the bed and went over to the curtains only to find Ayame standing on the balcony that was connected to her room. After seeing that she obviously didn't know that he was there, Fuji decided to try and talk to her.

"Ayame?" The sound of his voice caused her to jump because she didn't know somebody was actually there, but that was the only response he got. She didn't say anything nor did she turn around to look at him. She just continued to stare off into the distance. Fuji saw that he wasn't going to get any response out of her, so he walked up next to her and spoke to her again. He didn't care if he didn't get any responses; he just wanted to try to help her out in any way possible.

"Ayame, I know that you don't really want to speak to anybody at the moment, but I just wanted to say that I'm very sorry about what happened to your mother. If you ever need anything or just want to talk, you can call me anytime." With that said, Fuji turned to go and leave the distressed girl alone, but was stopped when Ayame grabbed a hold of his hand and held it in hers. Fuji then turned around to see Ayame was now facing his direction and was looking straight at him with eyes filled with despair. As Fuji looked into her eyes, he heard her speak in a quiet, desperate voice.

"Syuusuke, please don't leave me alone." After hearing that, Fuji instantaneously turned and returned back to her. As soon as he was close enough, Ayame instantly buried her face into his chest and cried. Fuji then wrapped his arms around her holding her securely and just let her cry. After a while, she began to calm down a bit and the two separated from one another. It was then that Fuji spoke once again.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"A little, but not really. I do want to thank you for coming over here though."

"It's not trouble, I'm glad I could be some assistance."

"This just isn't fair. Why did this have to happen to me? First I lose my dad when I was little and now my mom too. Who is next, my brother, sister, or even you? I don't know if I could live on if I lost any of you." After hearing that, Fuji really didn't know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I know life is not fair. I also wish I could say that I can sympathize with you and know exactly what you are going through, but I can't. But I can tell you one thing; I'm not going to leave you, especially in a state like this. I would hate myself forever if I did such a horrible thing to you."

"Thank you, Syuusuke. It feels good to know that I always have somebody I can come to when I need comforting or reassurance. I'm glad I have somebody like you as a friend and a lover." After she said that, she inched her face closer to his. Fuji noticed this and happily met her halfway and the two shared an emotion filled kiss. The two stayed like that for quite some time that is until they parted for much needed air. After the two parted, they just stared into each other's eyes. While they were doing that, Ayame decided to speak for the first time in awhile.

"Fuji, I love you so much and when I'm with you, I feel overwhelmed with happiness."

"Ayame, you have no idea how happy I am just hearing that from you. I love you too." After he said that, the two shared another warm, emotional kiss. After breaking apart, the two snuggled up together and stared off into the evening sky, just enjoying each other's presence.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter fourteen. I really hope you liked it. I'm sorry if the ending was a bit sappy, but I felt that that was the best way to do things. Anyways, please drop me a review. I love to know what my readers think. I'll update again as soon as I can.


	15. Things Go Back to Normal, for the Most P

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter fifteen. Please read and enjoy.

Chapter 15:

Things Go Back to Normal, for the Most Part

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_This just isn't fair. Why did this have to happen to me? First I lose my dad when I was little and now my mom too. Who is next, my brother, sister, or even you? I don't know if I could live on if I lost any of you." After hearing that, Fuji really didn't know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind._

"_I know life is not fair. I also wish I could say that I can sympathize with you and know exactly what you are going through, but I can't. But I can tell you one thing; I'm not going to leave you, especially in a state like this. I would hate myself forever if I did such a horrible thing to you."_

"_Thank you, Syuusuke. It feels good to know that I always have somebody I can come to when I need comforting or reassurance. I'm glad I have somebody like you as a friend and a lover." After she said that, she inched her face closer to his. Fuji noticed this and happily met her halfway and the two shared an emotion filled kiss. The two stayed like that for quite some time that is until they parted for much needed air. After the two broke away, they just stared into each other's eyes. While they were doing that, Ayame decided to speak for the first time in awhile._

"_Fuji, I love you so much and when I'm with you, I feel overwhelmed with happiness."_

"_Ayame, you have no idea how happy I am just hearing that from you. I love you too." After he said that, the two shared another warm, emotional kiss. After breaking apart, the two snuggled up together and stared off into the evening sky, just enjoying each other's presence._

Several months passed since that night on the balcony and the death of Ayame's mother, and everything was beginning to go back to the way they were before her mother's death. Although, things were not completely the same for Ayame and her family, they as close as they were going to get. Ayame now lived with her brother and his wife and was getting accustomed to her new life without her mother being there for her when she needed her. But with the absence of her mother, Ayame's and Fuji's bond became stronger because whenever Ayame felt troubled by something or just wanted somebody to talk to she always went to him, just as she was doing at that very moment.

It was growing closer to the end of the school year and the students were buzzing with excitement. Along with the end of the school year, the finals of the Nationals for the guy's tennis club were drawing nearer by the day, in fact, they were the following week. Ayame and Fuji were walking towards the courts expecting to have practice today, but to their surprise, Coach Ryuzaki had called off both practices for the day and told everybody to relax and take it easy for start of the National Tournament. Ayame understood why the guy's practice was called off, but why the girl's, they didn't make it to the Nationals, so it confused her as to why the coach canceled their practice too. But she didn't care really, it meant more time for her to spend the way she wanted, and that was to be with the person she is with now.

"Hey, Syuusuke, I don't understand why coach Ryuzaki canceled the girl's practice. I mean, we didn't even make it to the finals…."

"I don't know why either, but I wouldn't complain, it just give us more time together."

"That's right, but I was looking forward to playing some tennis. I know, would like to play a match against me?"

"Playing a match against you, we haven't played each other in a very long time, it could be fun. I accept your challenge. But don't cry to me when you lose."

"Hey, just because you won last time we played and every other time before that doesn't mean I will lose now. It has been several years since we actually played against each other and not doubles on the same side. Also why would I bawl about losing? Do you think I'm a little kid or something?"

"Well, we will see if you can actually beat me now. I only mentioned the whole having a fit when you lose thing because that is exactly what happened last time you lost to me. You were such a crybaby when you were younger."

"Maybe so, but I'm not a little kid anymore and I won't cry if I lose and to make sure of that, I'm going to beat you and your genius self." Ayame said getting really irritated with Fuji's remarks.

Sensing that Ayame was beginning to get upset with him, Fuji decided to try and cool her down before she blew thing out of proportion. "Ayame, calm down, if I had known you would take what I said so seriously, I would not have said it."

"I'm sorry, I don't really know why I let that get to me like I did… It isn't like me." Ayame said as they continued walking towards the courts for a match. As the two approached, memories of Ayame's most recent match began to flood back into her mind.

_Flashback_

_Everything started off just like any other match she had been in, but then all of a sudden things changed. All of a sudden, everything went black for an instant. After a few seconds of nothing but darkness, one of the most horrifying scenes that she had ever seen came into view. People were running and screaming in all directions. The smell of smoke filled the air as many building were set ablaze. The sound of guns could be heard echoing through the area as many people were being shot at. Ayame just stood at her with her family, watching as things unfolded in front of her. Then the popping noises of guns came closer, along with the squeal of tires rubbing the pavement as they came to a sudden halt and a man with a gun is hanging out of the window of a car that was now sitting at the corner. It was then that Ayame and her family started to run and find some sort of shelter to get away from the guy with the gun. Not too long after they started to run, the noise of a gun being shot. A moment later, Ayame, her brother, and her mother were shoved out of the way. Ayame looked up from where she landed to find her father laying in a pool of his own blood right in front of her eyes. She crawls up next to him to see if he was ok, not knowing that he was just shot and was no longer alive. When she was about to make I over to his still body, somebody grabs her and carries her away from his. After turning her head, she saw that it was her mother who had been hauling her away from her beloved father._

"_Mommy, what about daddy, we need to wake up daddy."_

"_I'm sorry honey, but we can't wake him up."_

"_Why not? I don't understand."_

"_We just can't. Your daddy can't be woken up again. It just isn't possible anymore." Not being able to take it anymore, Ayame mother handed her to her brother and fell to the ground in tears as everything began to sink in. _

_Not knowing what was going on or why her mother was crying, Ayame questioned her brother on the subject. "Shinji, why is mommy crying and why did she keep saying that we can't wake daddy up?"_

_Trying to think of a way to make it so that his four year old sister could understand what was going on Shinji spoke to his sister, trying his best to make her comprehend what was going on. "Ayame, you might not understand this, but our father is dead and that is why our mother is crying."_

_Not knowing what dead meant, Ayame asked in hopes of getting an answer. "What does dead mean?"_

"_When somebody is dead, they are basically sleeping, but can't be woken up ever again. Do you understand that?"_

"_So, daddy is going to stay asleep forever and we can't wake him up ever again?"_

"_Yes, that is one way to put it."_

_Now understanding what was going on, Ayame began to break down in tears along with her mother while Shinji just watched as his sister and mother broke down with a very forlorn expression on his face. It took everything he had not to drop Ayame on the ground and drop to his knees crying. After several minutes, their mother managed to get a small hold of herself and the three started to walk in the direction that lead them away from the place that they once called home, leaving behind everything that was ever important to them. As everything was almost out of sight, the next thing that was heard was a little girl shrieking out the word "DADDY!"_

_End of Flashback_

Fuji had not noticed that Ayame had stopped in her tracks and was no longer following him until her heard a horrified scream come from behind him. He instantly turned around to find Ayame lying on the ground, curled in a ball, holding her head with tears running down her face. Instantly, he pivots around and sprints over to Ayame's side. After he makes it to her, he kneels down next to her and starts calling out to her. "Ayame, what's wrong?" After getting no response from his companion, he puts his hand on her shoulder with the intention of shaking her to get her attention, but as he placed his hand on her, he noticed that she was trembling. Fuji then heard the sound of somebody running in their direction. He looks up to see Eiji standing next to him.

"Eiji, what are you doing here?"

"I heard a scream come from this direction so I came to see what was going on, so what happened?"

"I don't know. All I know is that when we were about to enter the courts to have a match for fun, Ayame all of a sudden screamed and I turned around and found her like this."

"That's really strange, but I don't think we should leave her like this. I think you should get her home."

"I was going to. Do you think you can grab her bag and carry it? I can deal with carrying my own and her just fine."

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Eiji said as he went over and grabbed Ayame's bag while Fuji got his own, slung it over his shoulder and the carefully picked Ayame up and the two started off towards Ayame's house.

**Author's Note: **Well, that is the end of chapter fifteen of From Friendship to Love. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have time or just feel like it, please leave me a review. I love to know what my readers think of my story even if they think it is crap, but if that is the case, at least tell me why you think that. Anyways, I'm going to try and update this story again soon, but I'm also in the process of rewriting my other story because I did a failed attempt at writing it the first time around. Anyways, I hope you return for the next chapter.


	16. Bringing Back Unwanted Memories

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter sixteen. Please read and enjoy.

Chapter 16:

Bringing Back Unwanted Memories

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Eiji, what are you doing here?"_

"_I heard a scream come from this direction so I came to see what was going on, so what happened?"_

"_I don't know. All I know is that when we were about to enter the courts to have a match for fun, Ayame all of a sudden screamed and I turned around and found her like this."_

"_That's really strange, but I don't think we should leave her like this. I think you should get her home."_

"_I was going to. Do you think you can grab her bag and carry it? I can deal with carrying my own and her just fine."_

"_Yeah, sure, no problem." Eiji said as he went over and grabbed Ayame's bag while Fuji got his own, slung it over his shoulder and the carefully picked Ayame up and the two started off towards Ayame's house._

Ayame had woken up in her bedroom, which severely confused her because the last thing she really remembered is entering the tennis courts with Fuji ready to play a match with him, but everything after that was a huge blank. 'How did I get here?' Ayame thought to herself. As she thought that, she heard a noise, so she turned her head to see what it was and saw that somebody was entering her room. After a few seconds, the door was fully opened, thus revealing her brother.

"Oh, you are awake, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling ok, but I'm a little confused."

"Confused about what?"

"How did I get back home? The last thing I can remember is getting ready to play a match with Fuji. Everything after that is a blur…."

"Oh, I can easily answer that. Fuji and one of his friends brought you back here. I think they said his name was Kikumaru."

"Well, that makes sense. I was with Fuji, but I don't remember seeing Kikumaru there at all. I wonder why he was with us. Oh well, where are they now?"

"They had to go home. Fuji seemed really concerned about you, so I think you should give him a call a little later. But before that, I want to know what you remember when you were out cold."

"Ok, I'll give him a call, but what are you talking about, didn't I just tell you I don't remember anything past getting ready to enter the courts with Fuji?"

"Yes, but what the two told me worries me a little."

"What did they tell you?"

"Well, they told me that before you blacked out, that you screamed. Also that when you were out cold, you were trembling, consistently mumbling stuff, and eventually started crying, the way they explained things made it seem like you were have a very bad nightmare of some sort."

After he said that, memories of what Ayame had saw came back to her causing groan while holding her head as if she were in pain. That itself was enough to alert Shinji that something was definitely wrong with his sister.

"Ayame, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Shinji, I think I just remember exactly what I saw when was unconscious." Ayame said as she looked at her brother with eyes filled with all kinds of emotions ranging from fear to anger. The instant he saw her face, he knew it was something serious.

"Well, what is it that you remembered?"

"I'm not sure I can talk about it… It makes me angry, scared, and sad all at the same time."

"It's ok, I'm right here, so why not just get it out. Maybe you will feel better once you do."

"Ok, I'll tell you what I remember…"

After she was done with telling her brother about the anguishing memory about the death of their father, Ayame couldn't help but break down into tears because it was just too much for her to deal with at the moment. Her mother had just died a few months ago and she was still mourning the loss of her mother, but now this comes up too and she couldn't deal with it all and the only way she could think of to let her emotions out was to bawl her eyes out. The instant she started to cry, Shinji instantly took her into an embrace and she continued to sob into his chest until she cried herself to sleep. After she fell into a deep slumber, Shinji put her back into her bed and tucked her in for the night. Now that she was sound asleep in her bed, Shinji left the room and went to go check on Yuki, his other sister before going to bed himself.

The next morning Ayame at the same time that she usually would to get ready for school, as she got of bed Ayame felt a little weak and slightly off balance, but she ignored it and continued towards her closet to grab her uniform before heading for the bathroom to take a quick shower and take care of the other necessary things. After she was done in the bathroom, she went back to her room to grab her brush and went back to the bathroom to deal with her hair. After brushing out her hair and pulling it into a ponytail, she left the bathroom putting her brush back in her room and grabbing her tennis gear and school bag then heading downstairs. When she got downstairs, she went to the kitchen about to get herself something for breakfast, but decided against it because she didn't fell like eating, so she just left the house without eating breakfast.

When Ayame made it to school, she automatically went into the building and went to her locker to put away things she didn't need. After she was done there, she headed straight to her class and waited for the school day to start. After a few minutes of sitting in the empty classroom, Ayame began to feel weak again, so she put her head on her desk to see if that would help her feel better and eventually fell asleep. Sometime later, Students began to come into the classroom and sat in their seats and carrying their own conversation with their friends and didn't even bother to wake Ayame up, that is until Fuji and Kikumaru came into the room and saw Ayame sound asleep in her desk. So the two went over to the said girl and woke her up for various reason ranging from wanting to chat with her and that of concern.

"Ayame wake up." Fuji said to the sleeping girl only to not get any response from her. That was enough to make Fuji a bit worried about her because usually she would instantly wake up upon just hearing another person calling her name, but this time he got no response at all, so he decided to try it again.

"Ayame, wake up, class is going to start soon." Again, he got no response, now he was really getting apprehensive about her. He looked to Kikumaru who had the same look on his face. Fuji then looked at the clock and noticed that there were only a few more minutes until class started and he also knew that if the teacher walked in and saw her sleeping that she would get into trouble, so he decided to give it another try to wake her up.

"Ayame, wake up." Fuji said in an anxious tone, but this time shaking her shoulder to get her attention.

A few seconds later, Ayame began to stir from her sleep and looked up at the person he had just woken her up, only to be a little surprised to see Fuji standing right next to her with his hand still on her shoulder. After letting out a yawn, Ayame finally greeted her two companions.

"Oh, good morning. How long have you two been here and why did you wake me up sooner?"

"We have been here for about ten minutes now and we have been trying to wake you up the entire time. Are you ok? It isn't like you to sleep like that."

"I'm fine, I'm just feeling a little tired, that's all."

"Ok, whatever you say Ayame." Fuji said to her not believing her in the least considering what had happened the previous day and just by how she looked. In his opinion she did not look good, but he let that slide for now. A few minutes later, the teacher walked into the classroom, thus the school day had officially started.

**Author's Note:** Well, that is the end of chapter 16 of From Friendship to Love. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I would really like to know what my readers think, so if you feel like it leave a review to tell me what you think. Anyways, I will update this again whenever I can.


	17. The Truth Revealed

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter seventeen of From Friendship to Love.

Chapter 17:

The Truth Revealed

_Recap of last chapter:_

_"Ayame wake up." Fuji said to the sleeping girl only to not get any response from her. That was enough to make Fuji a bit worried about her because usually she would instantly wake up upon just hearing another person calling her name, but this time he got no response at all, so he decided to try it again._

_"Ayame, wake up, class is going to start soon." Again, he got no response, now he was really getting apprehensive about her. He looked to Kikumaru who had the same look on his face. Fuji then looked at the clock and noticed that there were only a few more minutes until class started and he also knew that if the teacher walked in and saw her sleeping that she would get into trouble, so he decided to give it another try to wake her up._

_"Ayame, wake up." Fuji said in an anxious tone, but this time shaking her shoulder to get her attention._

_A few seconds later, Ayame began to stir from her sleep and looked up at the person he had just woke her up, only to be a little surprised to see Fuji standing right next to her with his hand still on her shoulder. After letting out a yawn, Ayame finally greeted her two companions._

_"Oh, good morning. How long have you two been here and why did you wake me up sooner?"_

_"We have been here for about ten minutes now and we have been trying to wake you up the entire time. Are you ok? It isn't like you to sleep like that."_

_"I'm fine, I'm just feeling a little tired, that's all."_

_"Ok, whatever you say Ayame." Fuji said to her not believing her in the least considering what had happened the previous day and just by how she looked. In his opinion she did not look good, but he let that slide for now. A few minutes later, the teacher walked into the classroom, thus the school day had officially started._

As soon as the teacher finished taking attendance, he began his lesson. As the teacher was lecturing and writing math problems on the board, Ayame was only half paying attention to him because she had her head down on her desk while trying to copy what was written on the board by her instructor. When he was done writing out the problems he turned around to pick out a couple of his students to answer the questions that were currently there. When he turned around, he his attention was instantly drawn to Ayame who was half asleep on her desk, Fuji, whose attention was on Ayame rather than the lecture itself, and Kikumaru whose attention was also elsewhere.

"Hamasaki, Fuji, and Kikumaru would you three please come up here and answer these questions?"

"Yes sensei." All three of them answered at the same time as they got out of their seats and went to the front of the class to do as they were told to. After Ayame stood, she wobbled a bit before steadying herself enough to walk up to the front and grab a piece of chalk to deal with the last question that was not being worked on. When she actually saw what was on the board, she was relieved to see that it was nothing more than a simple quadratic equation. Within a matter of seconds, Ayame was done with the question and went back to her seat beside Fuji who had finished with her, both leaving Kikumaru up there looking rather devastated by the question that was in front of him. After some time, Kikumaru finally came up with an answer to the equation that he had to answer and went back to his seat.

"Nicely done Hamasaki and Fuji you two got yours correct, but Kikumaru, yours needs some work." The teacher said as he looked over the problems that his students had just answered for him. After explaining what should have been done on the last equation, the bell rang, thus indicating the end of class.

It was now lunch time and Ayame was nowhere to be found. Fuji and Kikumaru were looking for her because she had disappeared right after science class last period.

"Eiji, can you think of anywhere else she could be?" Fuji asked starting to get desperate.

"No, I don't know. I was hoping that you would know where she was." Kikumaru replied back sounding a little frantic himself. Just as he said that, they heard somebody asking them something from behind, so they turned around to see who it was, that it was one of Ayame's friends from the girls' tennis team.

"Oh, hey, you are Nakamura Midoriko one of Ayame's friends aren't you? Is there something you need?" Fuji asked in a rather quizzical tone.

"Yes, my name is Nakamura Midoriko and yes I do have something I wanted to ask you."

"Ok, what is it?"

"Well, I noticed that you seem to be looking for somebody and I was wondering if I could be of some assistance."

"Well, since you asked, do happen to know where Ayame went? She just left with a single word after out last class."

"Ayame? I thought it was strange that she wasn't with you, but now that I think about it, I saw her heading towards the roof not too long ago. If you hurry, you might be able to get to her before she leaves the rooftop."

"Thank you very much for telling us that." Fuji said as he and Kikumaru began to run off in the direction of the rooftop.

After the two made it to the rooftop they automatically found Ayame leaning against the rails looking down watching the students as they walked around.

"Ayame, I'm glad that we finally found you."

"I knew you two would come looking for me. "

"Of course, but why did you just run off like that?"

"I just wanted to be left alone for a bit, now if you two would excuse me, I'll be taking my leave now and please don't follow me." Ayame said as she started to walk past the two boys that stood in front of her only to have one of them grab her wrist as she was about to leave.

"Eiji, can you give us some time alone, please?"

"Ok, I'll see you guys in class then." Kikumaru said as he turned and left Fuji and Ayame alone on the roof top. After Kikumaru left, Fuji let go of Ayame's arm and proceeded to talk to her.

"Ok, what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing. I just want to be left alone…"

"You know as well as I do that something is wrong with you. Now, will you please tell me what is wrong? The way you have been acting today is beginning to worry me."

After heaving a sigh, Ayame finally gave into Fuji's request.

"Fine, I guess I'll tell you because you aren't going to leave me alone otherwise. The truth is, ever since the last match of the Nationals, I have been haunted by these memories from when I was younger. These particular memories are not very fond memories at all, in fact, they are some of the most dreadful memories anybody could ever have. Because of these memories, I haven't really been able to get much sleep at night, which explains why I've been kind of lethargic lately. I guess the lack of sleep is beginning to catch up on me." Ayame told him in a somewhat agitated tone that also showed signs of severe fatigue.

After hearing what Ayame had to say, Fuji was about to say something more, but was cut off by the sound of a bell indicating that it was now time for them to head to their next class, which Ayame was really not looking forward to.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that concludes chapter seventeen of From Friendship to Love. I hope that you at least somewhat liked the chapter. I'm going to start typing up the next chapter as soon as I finish with this one, so you shouldn't have to wait long for it. Anyways, I love to hear what my readers think of my writing, but you don't have to leave a review, I will still update regardless of if I receive reviews or not.


	18. Troubles Occur

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter eighteen. I hope you will enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 18:

Troubles Occur

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Ok, what's wrong with you?"_

"_It's nothing. I just want to be left alone…"_

"_You know as well as I do that something is wrong with you. Now, will you please tell me what is wrong? The way you have been acting today is beginning to worry me."_

_After heaving a sigh, Ayame finally gave into Fuji's request._

"_Fine, I guess I'll tell you because you aren't going to leave me alone otherwise. The truth is, ever since the last match of the Nationals, I have been haunted by these memories from when I was younger. These particular memories are not very fond memories at all, in fact, they are some of the most dreadful memories anybody could ever have. Because of these memories, I haven't really been able to get much sleep at night, which explains why I've been kind of lethargic lately. I guess the lack of sleep is beginning to catch up on me." Ayame told him in a somewhat agitated tone that also showed signs of severe fatigue. _

_After hearing what Ayame had to say, Fuji was about to say something more, but was cut off by the sound of a bell indicating that it was now time for them to head to their next class, which Ayame was really not looking forward to._

Ayame was now in the girls' changing room getting changed for gym class, but she really didn't feel up to dealing with gym class at all. She seriously felt as if she could collapse at any second, but she continued on as if nothing was wrong with her at all. After she finished getting changed into her gym uniform, she went out to the main area of the gym to meet up with the rest of the class. Right when she exited the changing room, she instantly heard a voice booming from across the gym.

"Come on Hamasaki, everybody is waiting on you, so get over here." Her gym teacher bellowed rather impatiently at the poor girl. After hearing that, Ayame sped up her pace a bit so that she could shut up her teacher's yelling and get started with what she knew would be torture to her today. As soon as she got over with the rest of her class their instructor automatically started informing them on what they were going to do that day.

"Alright class, today we are going to be playing dodge ball when I tell you what side you will be on you are to go there and wait for me to indicate the start of the game." Soon after he said that, everybody was on their designated side of the gym and the whistle was blown to indicate the start of the game.

Ayame was currently standing in the middle of the gym just watching as ball whizzed by her going in both directions. At that moment, she was currently not paying attention to the game that is until she heard a voice calling out to her from the other side of the gym.

"Hamasaki, you do realize that if you just stand there then you are making yourself a very easy target, right?" One the boys from the other side of the gym called out to her as he threw a ball at her hoping to get her out of the game. The voice was enough to snap her out of her thoughts enough to barely manage to dodge the ball that was speeding towards her. After a few seconds later there was a huge bang noise as the ball hit the wall behind her with a lot of force. After hearing that, Ayame turned around only to see that she was the only one left on her team. She then looked over to the other side of gym to see that about ten people are left standing on their side Fuji and Kikumaru were among them, both of them with concerned faces for they knew Ayame was not in good enough condition to be playing games like this at the moment. It was then that Ayame began to focus on the situation.

'_Ok, ten against one, usually this wouldn't even phase me, but today, I really don't have the energy to do as much as I usually would, but I will do everything in my power to make a comeback and attain victory.' _After thinking that to herself, Ayame bent down and picked up one of the several balls that were on her side, which to her surprise was all of them and looked straight to the other team before finally throwing the ball and pelting last remaining girl on the other side in the stomach with just enough force to know that she was hit and thus she was taken out of the game. It was then that she heard a voice from the other side, the same voice as before.

"Well, it's about time you decide to get your head in the game, I was beginning to wonder when the most athletic girl we have in our class was actually going to do something other than stand there looking clueless and stupid." That was enough to make something snap in Ayame as she picked up another ball and chucked it straight to the guy who had said with as much force as she could muster at the moment and the ball slammed the poor guy so hard in the gut that he was knocked over on his butt and slid a few inches backwards.

"That is for saying that I'm clueless and stupid." Ayame spat out in a very infuriated voice before everything around her began to blur and started to sway a bit, and the next thing she knew she was falling backwards, but just before her surroundings went black she felt herself land into somebody's arms.

XXXX

'_Where am I?' _Ayame thought to herself as she opened her eyes to see that she was no longer in the gym, but rather in another room all together. After a few seconds of examining her surroundings, she came to realize exactly where she was and that was the infirmary. As she began to sit up, she heard what sounded like footsteps coming from her left, so she instantly turned to her left to find the nurse walking in the room where she was.

"I see you are awake, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling much better now than I was earlier. Am I alright to return to class now?"

"Well, you would be allowed to return to class, but the school day is over now."

"The school day is over? How long was I out?"

"For a couple hours, but don't worry, there was nothing seriously wrong with you. You just overexerted yourself which in return lead to exhaustion and eventually you fainting."

"Well, that explains a lot about what happened. So I'm safe to leave now?"

"Yes, you may go now."

"Ok, then I'll be taking my leave, oh and thank you for taking care of me." Ayame said as she got up to leave the room. But as was about to leave she realized something.

"Do you happen to know where my uniform and other things are?"

"Ahh, yes, actually your friend said he would drop them off after class if you didn't wake up before then, but he has not come back yet."

"Alright, thanks." Ayame said as she left in search of Fuji which is who she assumed was the friend that the nurse was talking about. After she left the infirmary, Ayame went straight towards her last class of the day to see if Fuji was still in there considering that the class just ended a few minutes ago. As soon as Ayame slid open the door to gain access into the classroom, she collided into somebody and she fell onto the floor with a soft thud. After she fell to the ground, she instantly saw a hand extended in front of her offering to help her off the floor. Upon accepting the offer with getting off the ground, Ayame heard a voice speaking to her at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Hamasaki san, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?" A girl asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but is Fuji still in there?"

"Yes, he is still in there along with Kikumaru san."

"Ok, thanks." Ayame said as she entered the classroom in search of Fuji. As she walked in she automatically went towards the back of the room where she and Fuji sat everyday because she was sure that is where she would find him over there. Before she could even make it completely into the room, she found herself being mauled and was back on the floor for the second time in the past few minutes. As she hit the ground, she heard a very happy and very loud voice looming over her.

"Hamasaki, I'm glad to see that you are doing better." Kikumaru said as he had Ayame in one of his death hugs. Feeling herself being deprived of much needed air, Ayame struggled to get him off of her.

"Kikumaru, please let go of me, I can't breathe."

"Sorry Hamasaki, I'm just so happy to see that you are ok." Kikumaru said as he let go Ayame who was not gasping for air.

"Ayame I was just getting ready to go check up on you and return your stuff to you, anyway, here are you books and other things." Fuji said while handing her stuff to her.

"Thank you. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to change out of my gym clothes." After she said that Ayame left the room heading towards the closest bathroom to change back into her normal class uniform. When she was finished in the bathroom she walked out and found Fuji waiting for her outside the door, which didn't really surprise her.

"Ayame, are you ready to go home now?"

"Yes, yes I am. But I should probably stop by the classes I missed and pick up my work I need to make up."

"No need to worry about that. All of that is already taken care of. I got it all and it is in your bag."

"Thank you. You saved me from the hassle of tracking down our teachers. Well, since you did that for me, I have nothing else to I need to do, so shall we go now?"

"Yes, let's get going." Fuji said as he took Ayame's hand and guided her out of the school and to her house. While the two were walking to Ayame's house, the two carried on a conversation.

"Ayame?"

"Yes Syuusuke?"

"Are you feeling better from earlier today in gym class?"

"Yes, I'm feeling quite a bit better. Why are you asking me that now?"

"I'm asking because you still look a little pale and that is worrying me a bit."

"I'm telling you that I'm just fine. Even the nurse said I was fine, so please stop worrying about me."

"Ok, I'll take your word for it."

After a while, the two reached Ayame's house. The two stopped in front of the house and turned to look at one another.

"Thanks you for walking me home Syuusuke, I really appreciate it."

"There is no need to thank me Ayame in fact, I really like walking you home."

"Well, anyways I should be going inside now, I have a lot of work to catch up on, so I will see you tomorrow." Ayame said as she was about to turn to go inside her house, but stopped when Fuji grabbed her shoulder and gently turned her until she was facing him again. When she was fully turned around, Fuji laid a soft kiss upon her lips, which she returned the instant she felt his warm lips press against hers. When the two broke the kiss off, Ayame was about to turn to go inside again, but halted to take one last look at Fuji before going inside for the night. As she turned back around, Fuji spoke to her.

"Ayame, the finals are tomorrow, so please come cheer us on."

"I was already going to go, so you didn't have to ask. Well, I will see you tomorrow. Goodnight Syuusuke."

"Goodnight Ayame. I will see you tomorrow." Ayame then started to walk towards her house. When she was in the door way, she turned and waved goodbye to Fuji as he started to walk down the sidewalk to get home himself.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter eighteen. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry about the very late update, but I kind of lost interest in writing for the last few months. Anyways, please tell me what you thought. I'll be updating again as soon as possible.


	19. National Finals at Last

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter nineteen. Just a fair warning, if you have not seen the National Finals yet don't read this chapter because it goes right along with it.

Chapter 19:

National Finals at Last

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Well, anyways I should be going inside now, I have a lot of work to catch up on, so I will see you tomorrow." Ayame said as she was about to turn to go inside her house, but stopped when Fuji grabbed her shoulder and gently turned her until she was facing him again. When she was fully turned around, Fuji laid a soft kiss upon her lips, which she returned the instant she felt his warm lips press against hers. When the two broke the kiss off, Ayame was about to turn to go inside again, but halted to take one last look at Fuji before going inside for the night. As she turned back around, Fuji spoke to her._

"_Ayame, the finals are tomorrow, so please come cheer us on."_

"_I was already going to go, so you didn't have to ask. Well, I will see you tomorrow. Goodnight Syuusuke." _

"_Goodnight Ayame. I will see you tomorrow." Ayame then started to walk towards her house. When she was in the door way, she turned and waved goodbye to Fuji as he started to walk down the sidewalk to get home himself._

It was now the morning of the National finals and Ayame was just getting ready to go watch the guys' match like she said that she would. She was just about to walk out of the door when she heard a voice behind her.

"Ayame nii Chan?"

"Yuki Chan, what's wrong?"

"I just wanted to know if I can come with you to watch Fuji Kun's match."

"Sure, I don't see why not. Just hurry up and get ready to go. I don't want to be late for the matches."

"Ok." Yuki said as she ran upstairs to her room to get ready to leave. After five minutes had passed, Ayame and Yuki were about to leave when their brother called out from the kitchen.

"Ayame, are you leaving now?"

"Yes, Shinji, I'm leaving and I'm taking Yuki with me."

"Alright, have fun and make sure to keep an eye on her."

"I will, I'll see you later." Ayame said as she and Yuki walked out the door and closed it behind them. After a while of walking, Ayame noticed that their pace was beginning to slow down, so she looked behind her to see that Yuki had stopped walking.

"Yuki, what's wrong?"

"I'm tired."

"Ok, climb on my back, I will carry you the rest of the way." Ayame said as she knelt down on the ground to make it so that her sister could climb on her back. After Yuki was safely secure on her back, Ayame continued on to the tennis grounds so that they could watch the finals. When Ayame reached the area where Seigaku was supposed to be meeting, she was automatically greeted by the guys as she let Yuki off her back.

"Ayame, you made it. With you being as late as you were, I thought you weren't going to make it."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Yuki wanted to come along to watch you guys play. That isn't a problem, is it?"

"No, not at all, we are happy to have both of you here. Isn't that right guys?" All of the other guys gave a nod indicating that they agreed with what Fuji was saying. After looking at all of the guys, Ayame noticed that somebody was missing.

"Hey, where is Echizen? Shouldn't he have been here already?"

"We don't know where he is." After that was said, Ryuuzaki Sensei came up and told them the news that she just heard.

"I just got a call saying that Echizen is in Karuizawa.

"What is Cohabit doing in Karuizawa?"

"It seems his train ran into some sort of trouble and he can't make it back."

After taking some time to think about the situation, Momoshiro decided to go and bring him back.

Not too long after Ayame had arrived, the matches begun.

Singles 3 had started off really bad for Seigaku as they were down 4-0 due to Tezuka Zone being destroyed by the head on attack of Sanada's Rai technique. It was after that point that Tezuka began to make a comeback by using the Tezuka Phantom, a technique that he had never use before. The technique was used to send every shot sent his way out of bounds. In the end, Seigaku lost with a score of 7-5.

After singles 3 ended, Momoshiro returned with Ryoma behind him.

"Momo, Cohabit you guys are back." Kikumaru said very pleased to see them back so quickly.

"Yeah, we have returned, but…"

As if on cue, Ryoma speaks showing everybody what Momoshiro was about to tell them.

"I see a lot of people here, so what exactly is going on?" After he said that everybody came to realize what was going on and that was that Ryoma had amnesia. Yuki, not fully understanding what was going on questioned this.

"Ayame nii Chan, what is amnesia?"

"Amnesia is when you forget your memories."

"So he can't remember anything?"

"It appears not." As Ayame was explaining everything to Yuki, the announcement for the start of Doubles 2 had just been publicized over the loud speakers. After that, doubles 2 had begun.

Doubles two was one very one sided match in Rikkai's favor. Things started to look worse after Kadioh took one game after the successful combination of Tornado Snake and Laser Beam, but in the process accidently hit Kirihara in the face causing him to go to Demon Kirihara. Instead of targeting Kaidoh, the one who provoked him, he targeted Inui. The match ended with Seigaku forfeiting due to Inui's collapse.

After seeing how the last two matches went, Ayame was beginning to worry about how the rest of the matches will go. She then turned to see that Fuji was grabbing his racket and heading towards the courts, but before he could get there she stopped him.

"Syuusuke, please be careful out there. I don't want you to get hurt like the others have."

"Don't worry Ayame I won't get hurt out there."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise I won't get injured out there."

"Alright, I will take your word for it." Ayame said with a smile on her face, but her eyes still showed her worry.

"Ok, I need to get out there on the court now." Fuji said as he started for the courts yet again, but this time he heard Ayame shout something else to him.

"Show me a win Syuusuke!"

"I intend to." Fuji said with a smile knowing that Ayame couldn't hear him because he was already on the courts.

Singles 2 started off as a one sided match in Seigaku's favor as Fuji had a 3-0 lead over Rikkai's Niou, but that changed after Niou brought out his Illusion technique and imitated Tezuka and even out the score. The match was even up until Fuji closed his eyes to just hit shots as they came. By doing so, Niou was not able to read his next move, thus giving Fuji the lead with the score of 6-5. It was then that Niou changed his illusion to Shiraishi. After changing to Shiraishi, Fuji revealed that he had a sixth counter and finished off the match with said counter, Hoshi Hanabi.

"Syuusuke, that was awesome." Ayame said as she ran up to him trapping him in a gigantic hug. As Ayame had Fuji in her bear hug, Fuji felt a small tug at the bottom of his shirt, looking down, he saw Yuki tugging on his shirt trying to get his attention.

"What is it Yuki?"

"That was a good game." She said as she hugged his leg.

"It seems like she like you Syuusuke, which is really strange because she usually doesn't take to people too well. Especially not now since we lost our mother."

"Maybe it is because of you. She looks up to you and since you like me she feels that it's ok to accept me too."

"You are probably right." Ayame said with a content smile while she listened to Momo tell the captain that he was going to take Echizen and get his memories back. The two then dashed off out of the stadium. She then turned to watch as the next match began to unfold.

Doubles two started off with the score of 2-1 in Rikkai's favor. As time went on, with Jackal being the defensive wall that he is and with Murai's volleys, the score had been 5-2 still in Rikkai's favor. It was after Momo came in yelling that after playing some of his rivals from the other schools again that Echizen's memories are returning that the two Seigaku players started to play seriously. After calling on their synchro, Oishi and Kikumaru pulled off a win with the score of 7-5.

"Now that the score is a two game win and two game loss for both teams everything is laying on the next match, but Echizen is not back yet. What are we going to do?" Ayame asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

"I'm sure Echizen will be here anytime now." Fuji said trying to reassure her. It was then that a specific voice caught their attention.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Ryoma said as he was standing at the entrance of the stadium. He soon walked down to the court where Yukimura was waiting for him.

Singles 1 started off really bad for Seigaku for Yukimura returned all of Echizen's special techniques, which in return caused him to evolve rather quickly in the match. On order to spare Ryoma, Yukimura took his senses leaving Ryoma to wander around with no touch, sight, or hearing, but that didn't make him give up. Instead it made him remember how fun tennis truly was, thus bringing out how full potential or as everybody called it, Principle of Perfection which ended the match with Seigaku's victory with the score of 6-4, thus making Seigaku the National champions.

After Ryoma had won the match, everybody was in shock for a few seconds, but then all of a sudden there was an outburst of cheers and everybody came running up to Ryoma while cheering. As everybody got to him they raised into the air happy to be the champions.

After everything was done with the tournament, including the award ceremony everybody returned home for the night.

**Author's Notes:** Well that is the end of chapter nineteen. I hope you liked it. I'm sorry that the matches were not in detail, but rather summarized, but I'm really bad at those kinds of things. Anyways, I will update again when I can.


	20. Will you Marry Me?

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter twenty.

Chapter 20:

Will you Marry Me?

_Recap of last chapter:_

_After Ryoma had won the match, everybody was in shock for a few seconds, but then all of a sudden there was an outburst of cheers and everybody came running up to Ryoma while cheering. As everybody got to him they raised into the air happy to be the champions._

_After everything was done with the tournament, including the award ceremony everybody returned home for the night._

Several years had passed since Ayame and Fuji had been reunited and the two are now graduated from high school and are ready to start their life, but at this very moment, the two are currently out having fun in the city.

"Hey, Syuusuke, where exactly are you taking me?"

"It's a surprise."

"You know I'm not the biggest fan of surprises Syuusuke, so why can't you just tell me?"

"Sorry Ayame, but I can't tell you, now will you just come with me without fighting about it?"

"Fine, but if I don't like this surprise then I'm leaving with or without you, it doesn't matter to me."

"That's fine, but I'm sure that you won't leave when we get there."

"Well, since it is you who is taking me I would hope you are right. I would hope that you know me well enough to not take me somewhere I don't like by now."

"Yes, I would hope I know you by now. Anyway, we are here."

Ayame now looking around to see where they were, and was really surprised to see that they were at the ice skating rink.

"Syuusuke, how did you know that I like to go ice skating? I never told you that."

"I saw some the trophies that were in your living room along with the trophies for tennis won by both you and your brother."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about those, but skating is a thing in the past for me."

"What exactly happened to make you say that?"

"Well, you see, I used to be a figure skater back when I was younger, but you already knew that, but I quite doing that after a tragic event happened."

"What was that event? Did something happen to you?"

"No, not me, but one of my closest friends, you see, we partners and always perform together, but then something went wrong during one of our performances." Ayame was now having problems continuing due to the fact that she now had tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Sensing the distress that Ayame was in Fuji automatically pulled her into a comforting hug in hopes of calming her down. While holding her in his embrace, Fuji spoke to her in another attempt to calm her down.

"I'm sorry Ayame, if I had known it was such a sad subject, I wouldn't have brought it up. If you don't want to finish telling me you don't have to."

"It's ok, you didn't know and you were curious. I will finish telling you just give me a few minutes to calm myself down."

"Ok, take your time, we aren't in a hurry."

A few minutes later, Ayame was finally calmed down enough to finish her little story.

"Well, as I was saying before I had that breakdown, something had gone bad in one of our performances. Our routine consisted of the normal things such as the spins and all of that good stuff, but what made ours stand out from the rest was that put a bit of a twist into things."

"What exactly was so special about your routine?"

"Well, our final part of the act was supposed to have her do a flip in the air where I was supposed to catch her and have her balance herself on shoulder in the end, but instead of catching her, I wasn't quite where I needed to be to catch her and she ended up having a head collision with the ice. She didn't make it through the night. Even though we had practiced it until we had it perfect, I still failed her in the end and she died for it too. I haven't stepped foot on the ice since that day because I feel like I was the reason she is no longer with me."

"Ayame, you can't put the blame on yourself. It wasn't your fault mistakes happen. Also, I'm sure your friend would not want you to give up on skating and she would want to be happy and not live life sad because of that day."

"I know that Syuusuke, but it is hard to not get upset when I think of that night, but I feel better now that have spoken about it instead of keeping it bottled inside, so thank you for listening to me. It makes me happy knowing that you are here for me when I need somebody to talk or simply a shoulder to cry on."

"Ayame, you know I'll be here for you whenever you need me, so if you ever have something you need to get off your chest, you can come to me. I will listen to you."

"Thank you Syuusuke, now are we going to go in or are we just going to stand here all day. I'm pretty sure that you didn't bring me here to just stand in front of the place."

"You're right, I didn't. But are you sure that you want to. I mean after what you just told me I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"It's fine. I think you are right and that I shouldn't give up on it just because of that day. It has been my dream since I was a little girl to become a professional figure skater and I'm sure that Yuri Chan wouldn't want me to give up on that dream either."

"That's the spirit Ayame, but if it was your dream to become a professional figure skater, then why do you play tennis?"

"I like tennis a lot too. I would have done figure skating, but Seigaku didn't have a figure skating team, so I went with tennis which is another thing that I love to do. Also, I'm glad that I chose to join the tennis club because I probably would have never been reunited with you again if I chosen another club."

"That isn't true, we had classes together, remember?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have realized who you were. To be totally honest with you, I didn't remember who you were until I saw you playing that day when I first transferred to Seigaku."

"I know, but that doesn't matter, all that matters now is that we are together again."

"Yeah, now let's go inside." Ayame said as she grabbed Fuji's hand and lead him inside the ice skating rink.

After the two had entered the rink Ayame was so surprised that she could have had a heart attack because once she opened the door and walked in all of her friends and her family were in there and shouted a very loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AYAME!"

"Thank you everybody. I very happy that you guys went through all of the trouble to do this for me."

"There is no need to thank us Ayame, it is your birthday after all. I wanted to something special for you and then I remembered your love for ice skating and this came to mind, but I wasn't sure how to make everything work, so I had Fuji Kun help me out with a few things." Shinji told her.

"You knew about this the whole time? How long did you know about this?"

"Yes, I knew about this the entire time and for how long, I have known about it for a few weeks now. We have been planning it for awhile. Shinji and Keiko dealt with all of the arrangements here and decorations as well as the other important things. They asked me to pass out invitations to your friends and most importantly keep you busy until they were ready for you to be here."

"Well, I'm happy that you guys did this for me, thank you so much. I might not be a fan of surprises, but this one I will accept."

"After spending a couple hours having fun skating, everybody stopped for cake, ice cream, and presents. Ayame was very happy with what she received from everybody. Kikumaru got her a CD from her favorite band, her best friend from the girls tennis club, Midoriko got her a nice sun dress with matching sandals, handbag, headband, and sunglasses, Shinji, Keiko, and Yuki got her brand new ice skates and a new outfit to go with them. She received gifts from the rest of the guys and girls from the tennis clubs as well. It didn't take her long to realize that a certain somebody didn't give her anything.

"I know what you are thinking, I will give you my gift later." Fuji said as he came up behind her and held her in a loose hug.

"Ok, I was wondering why you were the only one I didn't receive anything from, but I think I understand why now."

"Really? Why is that?"

"It is something special and you want us alone. Am I right?"

"Yes, but how did you know?"

"Just like you know me quite well, I know you really well too. IT wasn't hard to figure out."

After a little more time passed, everybody began to leave to get back home for it was starting to get late.

"Ayame, we are leaving now, so we will see you when you get home, but please don't stay out too late."

"Don't worry, I won't keep her out too late, we won't be much longer."

"Ok, I'll see you when you get home." Shinji said as he walked out along with Keiko and Yuki. After those three left, Ayame and Fuji were the only ones left in the place.

"So Syuusuke, why exactly is your gift so special that you wanted us to be alone to give it to me?"

"You are about to find out." Fuji said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box and knelt down on one knee.

"Ayame, I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?"

Now with tears of happiness in her eyes, Ayame looked to Fuji and spoke the words she never thought she would ever get the chance to say.

"I love you so much that I can't even imagine living a day without you, so of course I will marry you Syuusuke." Fuji then put the ring on her finger and the two shared a kiss filled with all of their emotions put into it.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter twenty. I really hope you guys liked it. Just a fair warning, next chapter will be the final chapter to this story unless I decide to put up another one afterwards, I have not fully decided how I want to finish it off just yet. Anyways, if you have time, please tell me what you think by dropping a review. I will update again when I get the chance.


	21. Wedding Day

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter twenty one please read and enjoy.

Chapter 21:

Wedding Day

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Ayame, I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?" _

_Now with tears of happiness in her eyes, Ayame looked to Fuji and spoke the words she never thought she would ever get the chance to say._

"_I love you so much that I can't even imagine living a day without you, so of course I will marry you Syuusuke." Fuji then put the ring on her finger and the two shared a kiss filled with all of their emotions put into it._

The day of the wedding has finally arrived and everybody was busy getting ready for the big event. Ayame was currently in her designated room with the rest of the ladies getting dressed in her dress and getting her hair and makeup done.

"Ayame, after you get into your dress why don't you come over here so we can do something with that hair of yours."

"Alright Keiko, but could somebody please help me out over here?"

"Alright Ayame, I'm coming." Yuki said as she saw her sister struggling with her dress. After a few minutes after Yuki went to help her sister into her dress, Ayame was ready for the next step in the process of being presentable for her special day and that was getting her hair done. As Ayame sat down in a chair in front of Keiko so that she could do her hair she was questioning what Keiko had in mind for her hair.

"Keiko, what are you planning to do with my hair today?"

"Well, I would tell you, but I want it to be a surprise. But I'm sure you will approve of it."

"Ok, I'll trust you on this one." Ayame said as she let Keiko get to work. After about an hour, Keiko was done with Ayame's hair and Ayame was then ready for the final step and her most hated part of it all, her makeup, but she let the others do what they were going to do without a fuss. While everything was going on, Ayame was thinking about one thing in particular.

'_I wonder what Syuusuke is up to at this moment.'_ Ayame thought as she let out a sigh wishing she could see him, but she knew she had to wait until later.

XXXX

Fuji had just finished with his preparations for the wedding and was just taking some time to relax while he could. While he was sitting there he heard somebody come and sit beside him.

"Hey Syuusuke, how are you doing?"

"Hey Shinji, I'm doing just fine. Why do you ask?"

"I just thought that you might be feeling a bit nervous. I know I did when I was in your situation."

"I'm fine, but thanks for the concern."

"No problem, but if you need anything, just come find me."

"I will thanks again." With that said, Shinji walked away leaving Fuji to be alone yet again. After he was alone again Fuji began to let his mind wander off.

'_I wonder what and how Ayame is doing right now. I guess I will find out later today.'_ Fuji said as he turned in his seat and stared out the window that was right next to him.

XXXX

Ayame was now done getting ready and was about to examine herself in the mirror to see exactly what her sister and soon to be sister, sister in law, and soon to be sister in law did to her. When she saw herself she was stunned at how gorgeous. Her dress was a traditional white dress that had a corset like top what had rhinestones on it. The bottom was lacy and was slightly fluffy. Her hair was half up with curls cascading down her back. There were little flowers in her hair to add a bit of decoration to it. As for her makeup, all they did was a bit of foundation, a light shade of blue eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara to bring out her natural features and her beautiful blue eyes.

"You guys did an amazing job." Ayame said as she admired herself.

"We knew you would like what we did with your hair and makeup." Yumiko said as she, Keiko and Yuki come up beside her in the powder blue dresses.

"Well, it is about time for the ceremony to start. Are you ready?" Keiko asked Ayame

"Yes, I'm ready. Let's go." Ayame said as she walked out of the room and to where they were holding the ceremony.

XXXX

Ayame was now waiting for the moment that she was supposed to be walking down the aisle. As she was waiting outside the room with Shinji she began to feel a bit nervous.

"Ayame, what's wrong?"

"I'm just beginning to feel a little nervous, that's all."

"Yeah, I know how that feels, I was a bit nervous too, but don't let it get in the way of things. By the way, you look lovely."

"Thank you Shinji." As she said that, the music starting playing.

"Well, that's our cue, so let's go." Shinji said as he took his sister's hand and walked her down the aisle.

When Ayame made where Fuji and the pastor were waiting she instantly turned to Fuji and gave him a sweet smile while looking him in the eyes.

"Ayame, you look gorgeous."

"Thanks, you look great yourself." Just as the two said that the pastor began and everything began.

"Do you Fuji Syuusuke take Hamasaki Ayame as you lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"Do you Hamasaki Ayame take Fuji Syuusuke to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"You may now kiss the bride." After that was said Fuji leant in and placed a loving kiss on Ayame's lips sealing the deal.

"Ayame tonight starts a new chapter in our lives, are you ready for it?"

"Yes Syuusuke, I am. I'm ready to live the rest of my life with you."

**Author's Notes: **Well this is the end of chapter twenty one. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I'm sorry if the wedding scene was not that great because I'm not married and I've only been to one wedding in my life and I can't remember exactly what went on. Anyways, I'm planning one more chapter to this story before I end it for good. Please tell me what you think and I will update this as soon as possible.


	22. Life Just Got Interesting

**Author's Note: **Well here is what I hope to be the final chapter. Please read and enjoy.

Chapter 22:

Life Just Got Interesting

_Recap of last chapter:_

"_Do you Fuji Syuusuke take Hamasaki Ayame as you lawfully wedded wife?"_

"_I do."_

"_Do you Hamasaki Ayame take Fuji Syuusuke to be your lawfully wedded husband?"_

"_I do."_

"_You may now kiss the bride." After that was said Fuji leant in and placed a loving kiss on Ayame's lips sealing the deal._

"_Ayame tonight starts a new chapter in our lives, are you ready for it?"_

"_Yes Syuusuke, I am. I'm ready to live the rest of my life with you."_

Ayame was currently at the stove making breakfast for her family when all of a sudden a pair of arms snake around her waist securing her in place while a pair of lips found their way to her neck leaving little trails of kisses wherever they landed.

"Syuusuke, is it really the best idea for you to be doing that while I'm trying to cook, you could get one of us hurt. Also, I don't think the kids would like to see kind of behavior from their parents?"

"Hmm, you have a point. I don't want either of us to get hurt, but it would have been fun to mess with the kids a bit." Fuji said as he let go of Ayame and went to the cupboards to get the dishes that they would need for breakfast and began to set the table. Just as he finished setting the table and Ayame had all the food on the table, the two heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Seconds later three children came down the stairs in their school uniforms. Two of which were twins that looked like their mother with their red hair and light blue eyes and the other girl was two years younger and looked like her father with the honey brown hair and sapphire blue eyes.

"Good morning girls." Both Fuji and Ayame said

"Where is your brother at?" Ayame asked seeing that her only son was not there.

"Good morning." The three girls said in unison

"I believe he is still in bed." Hana the youngest of the three girls at eleven years old said.

"Well, if he doesn't get down here soon, we will leave him behind." Yuri said as she started nibbling on a piece of toast.

"Come now Yuri, don't be like that." Aiko said to her twin sister as she ate her eggs that were on her plate.

"I guess I'll go get him up then." Fuji said as he started up the stairs to get his son. As he got to the door of his room, Fuji knocked on the door to see if he would get an answer. To his surprise he did get an answer.

"I'll be out in a few minutes. Give me some time to get dressed."

"Alright, just hurry up, the girls are waiting on you."

"Alright." After that Fuji went back downstairs.

"Well, is he coming or not?" Yuri asked as she saw her father come back downstairs.

"He'll be down in a minute. He was up when I got up there."

"Alright, I guess we will wait here for him." Aiko said as she got up to put her plate in the sink.

"Man, I swear our brother should be a sister. He takes forever to get ready in the morning…." Yuri said as she too put her plate in the sink.

"Wow Yuri, even though you and Aiko are identical twins, you two are as different as night and day." Hana said as she put her plate in the sink.

"I'm glad I'm not like Yuri. She is so cold and seems to dislike people…" Aiko said as she looked to her sister who was giving her a bitter stare.

"I'm rather content with how I am. I'd much rather be by myself than in a huge group of people. But I don't dislike people, I just prefer to stay to myself."

"I know that Yuri, it's just that you scare people. I'm a little surprised that the girls who play alongside us in the girl's tennis club aren't scared of you."

"That's because they are afraid of you and your sadistic ways. You are so much like our dad that it is a little scary."

Before the girls could continue with their conversation a boy at the age of fourteen who looked like both of his parents with red hair and sapphire blue eyes came down the stairs wearing his tennis regular jersey.

"It's about time Toshiro, if you don't hurry, we will be late." Yuri said in an impatient tone.

"Yuri, why does it matter to you if you make it on time? You aren't the one playing in the match. If I remember correctly, the girls don't play until next week."

"Toshiro, we may not be playing, but we like to watch the matches and it isn't fair to make the guys wait." Hana mentioned.

"We don't have time to discuss this, if Toshiro isn't there in fifteen minutes the team will be disqualified…" Aiko pointed out as she looked at the watch that was around her wrist.

"Oh crap. We have to get going. I didn't realize it was that late already." Toshiro said as he grabbed a piece of toast and an apple and ran for the door with his sister following close behind him.

"We have some very interest, but amusing kids, don't we?" Fuji asked Ayame as they watched their children run out the front door in a mad rush.

"Yes we do, but I wouldn't want it any other way."

XXXX

The four siblings were now arriving at the tennis courts where the guys from the boy's tennis club were waiting for their last member to arrive.

"Sorry I'm late guys." Toshiro said as he made it to the rest of the guys.

"Well, look who finally decided to show up and with his really cute sister no less." A young man with dark red hairs said as he eyeballed Hana.

"Don't you dare get any ideas Kikumaru, she isn't even twelve yet." Toshiro warned his teammate and close friend when he noticed him looking at Hana.

"Hello Fuji San." A boy with black hair with a greenish tint said as he approached Aiko.

"Hey there Echizen Kun, it's nice to see you this morning." Aiko said with a smile on her face.

"Shouldn't we go register before we get disqualified?" Toshiro asked as he looked at the clock

"Yeah, let's go guys." Hana said as she started to run off towards where they were supposed to register.

With a laugh at her antics they guys and the two remaining girls followed behind the youngest person in their group.

"So who are you guys playing today anyway?" Aiko questioned.

"We are playing Hyoutei."

"Well, if that is the case, this is not going to be an easy match for you guys."

"Yeah." Toshiro said to his sister as went up to turn in their registration papers. He then gestured for the rest of the guys to follow him to the court that they would be playing on.

After the double matches, which ended with one win and one loss for Seigaku, there was a break to clean up the courts before they started the singles matches. Yuri decided that she wanted to go walk around until the matches started back up again. As she was walking she stopped by the vending machines to get herself something to drink. She then went to go sit down on a bench to enjoy her drink. Not long after she heard a voice.

"Is somebody sitting here?"

"No."

"May I sit here?"

"Suit yourself."

"So, what is a cute girl like you doing here all by yourself?"

"I'm obviously drinking a juice, well, I was until you came around."

"Where are my manners? My name Atobe Akito, the captain of Hyoutei tennis club. What is your name?"

"It's Fuji Yuri. I'm the captain of the girl's tennis club in Seigaku."

"So you are one of the Fuji siblings I've heard so much about. I've heard that you guys are true prodigies just like you father."

"Yeah, and you are the heir of the narcissistic Atobe, what about it?"

"You know, you are one very interesting young lady. You speak what is on your mind and don't sugar coat things. I like that in a girl. To make things better, you are quite attractive."

"Are you serious? I'm sorry, but…" Yuri was cut off mid sentence as she actually took a second to glance at the person she was talking to and instantly noticed that he was attractive himself.

'_He isn't too bad looking himself and truth be told he isn't really that bead to be around.' _Yuri thought to herself.

"Hey, would you like to walk with me for a bit?" Yuri asked.

"Sure, I'd be delighted."

XXXX

"Does anybody know where Yuri went?" Aiko asked as when she noticed that her sister still had not returned.

"I thought she said she was going to get a drink." Hana said

"Shouldn't she have been back by now?"

"Yeah, she should have. Let's go find her."

"Ok, but maybe we should tell the guys before wondering off."

"You're right." Aiko said as she walked over to the guys who were talking amongst each other. "Hey, Hana and I are going to look for Yuri who has not returned, just so you know." With that said, both girls turned and walked off. Not long after they started searching for their sister Hana spotted somebody who she thought was her sister walking with a guy.

"Hey Aiko, isn't that Yuri over there with a guy?"

"Yeah, that is her, but why is she with the captain of Hyoutei?"

"Hmmm, I don't know, but I think we should go tell the guys. This is definitely news considering it is Yuri we are talking about."

"Oh yeah, they would love to hear this." With that said, the two ran back to the guys to tell them what they just saw.

As the two returned to the guys they were panting from the running they had just done.

"Hey what's the matter? Why were you running? Did something happen?" Toshiro asked as he saw his two sisters running up to them.

"No, nothing happened to us, but we have some news that you may find interesting." Aiko told her brother.

"Oh what would that be?" one of the other guys asked noticing that the two had returned

"Well, we found Yuri." Hana told them.

"Really, why isn't she with you then?" Toshiro asked

"Well, you won't believe this, but we saw her with Hyoutei's captain." Aiko said

"WHAT?" All the guys said at the same time.

"Are you sure it was Yuri? She is not the type to just go off with somebody like that. She isn't exactly what you would call the social type." Toshiro mentioned.

"Yes, we are sure it was her. If you want proof come with us." With that said the whole group followed the two girls as they lead them to where they saw their sister. A moment later they were where the two had seen Yuri.

"See, there they are." Hana said as she pointed to the two teenagers chit chatting while with one another.

"You are right, that is Yuri. Don't tell me she is interested in Atobe, if so, things just got really interesting." Toshiro said as he continued to watch the two. It was then that the announcement that singles three was about to start soon so they ran back to the courts.

XXXX

"You know, you aren't actually a bad person. After what I heard about your father, I expected you to be just like him, but you aren't. You are kind of sweet."

"Why thank you, you are a nice young lady too, but as far as I've heard, you are nothing like your father."

"That's because I'm more like my mother. I'm more of the shy not so social type, but my mother was always a bit more friendlily than me. My twin sister is more like my father."

"I see." Right after he managed to say that, the two heard the announcement about singles three.

"Well, I think that is our cue to go back to where we belong."

"Yes it is. Would you like to hang out again some time?"

"I'd like that."

"Alright, here is my number, so call me sometime." With that Atobe left her to go back to his team and Yuri then turned to go back to her group as well.

XXXX

It had been several hours since the end of the matches between Seigaku and Hyoutei and the Fuji family was sitting in their kitchen eating dinner.

"So, how were the matches today?" Fuji asked his children as they ate.

"We won, but it was a very close match. Atobe almost had me. It turned into a long drawn out tiebreak…"

"I'm so happy that you won." Ayame said to her son.

"Is there anything else that happened today that you guys want to talk about?"

"Actually, we saw something interesting today." Aiko said to her father.

"Oh, and what would that be Aiko?"

"We saw Yuri with the Hyoutei captain." Hana said instead of Aiko.

"Yeah, and she looked like she was enjoying herself." Aiko added in.

"I think she has the hots for him" Toshiro commented wanted to add fuel to the fire.

"Yuri, is what they are saying true?" Ayame asked her daughter, but got no answer, so she looked to where her daughter was sitting and saw that her daughter was now beet red in the face and was looking down not speaking one bit.

"So, it's true, you really do like him." Aiko said.

"Yeah, so, what's your point? You have a crush on Echizen Kun, so you have no room to talk, and before you can say anything Toshiro, I know about your relationship with Minagawa San from class 3-B, so you can't say anything either." After she said that she realized her mistake by admitting that she did indeed like Atobe, but at the same time she managed to embarrass her siblings as well. With three very humiliated teenagers having the spotlight on them, they automatically got up and ran to their rooms to get away from the eyes that were on them, thus leaving a confused Hana and a very amused Ayame and Fuji.

"Things have just gotten very interesting." Ayame said to Fuji.

"Indeed they have." Fuji replied back.

**THE END**

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of From Friendship to Love. I really hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did. Please leave a review telling me what you thought of the story. Also if you ever have time or want to check out my other stories in the future, for I only have one other out right now, but I will have others up soon, hopefully. Anyways, thanks to everybody who read this, added it to their favorites or alerted it, and most of all thank you to everybody who reviewed, even if it was only once.


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